


Dream, Drops, Distance

by silveradept



Series: The Heart of the Miraculous [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Suicidally Ideates, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Makes Puns, Chat Noir Suicidally Ideates, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Knocking the Love Square Down One Corner At A Time, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Self-Sacrificing Bad Ideas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 18:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18666058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Dreams herald changes to Ladybug and Chat Noir, who discover new depths to their Miraculous Keyblades as Hawk Moth and his allies step up attacks and bring new foes to contend with. The struggle between Light and Darkness begins in earnest on another world.





	1. It Began With A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> With great thanks to [AlexSeanchai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/AlexSeanchai), who beta'd this fiction and made it stronger. If you're not already reading [their Miraculous Ladybug fic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/AlexSeanchai/works?fandom_id=582724), please do that.
> 
> (Truthfully, if you're reading this, you probably already knew that.)

It had to be a dream.

Most places, after all, didn't have floors composed of giant stained glass pictures. And especially not ones of _him_.

He wouldn't have put it past his father to have arranged for something like this as a publicity stunt, but he also knew his father would never let people walk all over his son's face. He smiled at the thought of people casually walking over his father's _cash-vache_ and what it would mean for his image.

He took a few steps forward to look at the picture of himself. He never looked that peaceful when he slept. At least, not since he'd started modeling. And especially not since becoming Chat Noir. Early mornings, late nights, and the possibility that he might have to be ready to leave at a moment's notice had destroyed his ability to sleep deeply. Plagg told him he talked in his sleep, but only one word: "Mom."

Another reason why this was a dream.

Something growled behind him. He whirled, ready to fight, but the only thing he saw was a pedestal with a sword on it in front of him. He dropped to all fours, only realizing he'd changed once his claws touched the floor, tense and ready to strike.

The floor had changed, too. Now, Chat Noir looked back at him, eyes open, looking to protect someone. Possibly the sleeping him that was underneath his feet. It made sense, as much as anything in a dream makes sense.

_Power still sleeps within you,_ a voice in his head told him. _What form will you give it?_

Carefully, he approached the sword and picked it up.

_The power of the warrior,_ the same voice said. _Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction._

_Is this the power you seek?_

He dropped the sword immediately. "A tool to impose your will on others," he said, turning away. "I have enough destruction already in my life."

He hadn't noticed the wand or the shield before, but they were also on pedestals, serenely floating and waiting for him to choose. He approached the shield first.

_The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all._

_Is this the power you seek?_

He set the shield back down. "I...no," he said. "I have done enough of hiding behind a shield, pushing everyone away from me for their own protection." He trembled slightly while walking toward the wand, which slowly changed its form to resemble the staff he was familiar with as he approached it.

_The power of the mystic,_ the voice provided. _Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin._

_Is this the power you seek?_

He laughed. "More like the power I already have," he said, seizing his staff.

_And what will you give up in exchange?_ the voice asked, a faint trace of amusement present.

"The sword," he said immediately. "You already knew that."

The floor shattered beneath him.

Instinctively, he extended his staff beneath him, looking for something he could anchor it to. He was contemplating the messy reality of sudden deceleration when he felt the staff touch something solid. At least he didn't have to contemplate whether dying in a dream would kill him in real life. As he slowed his descent, another stained glass floor became visible.

His Lady. And himself. Each turned away from the other, and looking as if they were wishing for the one who stood right next to them.

There were three figures on the floor, shrouded in darkness. As he touched the floor, the figure closest to him resolved into someone familiar.

"About time," Chloé grumbled, her back turned to him. "I have more important things to do than stand around and look ridiculous. Which reminds me," she said, turning to stare him in the eyes.

"What's most important to you?" Chloé asked him, the earlier voice weaving itself into Chloé's, imparting a seriousness to what would otherwise have been a strange question to hear from her.

He thought. There were many things that could answer that question. The power that gave him the freedom to be himself, even though it was just another mask to wear. The friends he had made since starting school. The time he spent with his Lady when they weren't saving everyone from Hawk Moth.

He stopped, realizing he had an answer.

"My heart," he told the dream-Chloé.

She looked at him skeptically. "Is that so? Then hold on to it," she told him. "You are surrounded by those who would steal your heart from you and keep it for their own."

She turned away from him as the second figure resolved from the darkness.

"I don't know why you chose her, dude," the dream-Nino said conspiratorially. "She seems like the last person who could offer you good advice."

"It's a dream," he replied, shrugging. "If there's a secret meaning to all of this, I'll probably forget it when I wake up."

"Dude," Nino said, shaking his head at what he was hearing. "Maybe this will help." He adopted the same searing stare that Chloé had.

"What do you want out of life, dude?" Nino asked, his voice interleaved with the voice that had been guiding the dream.

That was much easier to answer.

"I want to be myself," he said without hesitating. "I've spent long enough being someone else's puppet that I want to spend the rest of my life being able to make my own decisions."

Dream-Nino nodded. "Excellent. But you know, dude, no person is an island. Even if you close your heart off to people, you're opening it to other connections. A heart needs connections or it'll die."

The dream-Nino turned away from him, and the final character on the stage came to light.

His Lady.

A rush of emotions coursed through him that coalesced into a single thought— _ **protect her.**_

"My Lady, wake up!" he said. "You have to fight this. If he's out there, then you have to—"

"It's okay, chaton," she said gently. "She's not here."

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"She's safe," the dream-Ladybug said, meeting his eyes with her own. He could feel her stare more acutely than the other two. It felt like someone was searching through his heart to find the answer. He was afraid of what she was going to say next, even though he knew he needed to hear it.

"What are you so afraid of, chaton?" she said, her voice and that of the guide searing through his entire being.

His fears came rushing to the top of his mind at her call, a wave of terror crashing into him, driving him to his knees, head in his hands as it battered him relentlessly. If he spoke, he would scream. If he screamed, they would all come out—and even though he knew she wasn't his Lady, he could no more subject her to what gripped him from the question than he could do the same to her counterpart in the waking world.

"So many," the dream-Ladybug said, closer than she had been before. It sounded like she was close enough to touch, if he wanted to reach out to her.

He backed away from her voice. He knew what terrified him most of all. She could destroy him at a word, if she so desired, and he would let her.

_Try not to be afraid._

If she demanded it of him, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist her. If he admitted that to himself, then he was no longer an ally or a companion. He would be a liability.

His Lady couldn't afford liabilities. She had to survive, she had to get through it, she had to be able to _set the world right_ , and he knew that if she went to him first instead of doing what only she could do, he would get her killed. He could be sacrificed. His Lady could _**not**_.

His vision cleared as he anchored himself on that reality. The figures were gone. His claws had gone back in at some point. Had he spoken aloud any of what came through his mind? Had what coursed through his brain and body been answer enough? He didn't know.

What he did know was that he would always sacrifice himself for her, whenever it was necessary. She didn't need him like they needed her. And he could never tell her how deep his desire for her was. He was her support. She was his light.

_The closer you get to light,_ the voice told him, faintly amused, _the greater your shadow becomes._

He felt, more than heard, something happening behind him. Turning to face it, he watched a giant—creature—pull itself out of a pool of darkness cast by his own shadow.

Chat's claws came out, and he charged.


	2. Night of Fate

Ladybug could tell something was bothering Chat Noir. Usually on the way to fighting an akuma, they'd talk a little bit of strategy, and Chat would make a pun, which would go over well, and an attempt at flirting, which wouldn't. She hadn't heard a pun or a pass from Chat yet, even though they'd talked through what strategy might work best against this latest character.

She was about to ask what was wrong when something shimmered into existence from the shadows of the roof next to them.

"The bugs from my dream!" she said, spinning her yo-yo as one of them launched itself at her. Chat Noir batted it out of the air with his staff before it got close.

" _Your_ dream?" he asked, catching another jumping shadow with his staff and flinging it a long way away from them.

"Yes, it was _really_ weird." She slung her yo-yo at one of the shadows, but it sank back into the roof before she could connect. She dodged a leaping shadow and snapped the yo-yo up and through the jumping shadow before it could finish the leap, bringing the yo-yo down on top of the shadow she had missed earlier. Both shadows poofed out of existence once struck by the yo-yo.

"Giant stained glass floors with your picture on them weird?" Chat said, grinning as he poofed several shadows that had attempted to surround him with a swing of his staff.

"Yes," Ladybug said, her yo-yo a blur slicing through shadows that were unlucky enough to be close to her. "And disembodied voices telling me something about light and darkness."

"So what did you choose?" he asked, a sly grin on his face as a new group of shadows pulled themselves out to follow the first.

"That's personal."

"It doesn't look like these are going to stop coming," he observed. "We need to find the source."

Ladybug flung her yo-yo toward a higher building, then grabbed him and swung them both up to a better vantage point. As soon as they touched the new space, more of the shadows bubbled up around them.

"I won't tell, my Lady," Chat Noir promised, clearing the space around them of the shadows and standing up to her with three fingers raised on his right hand. "Chat's honor."

She shook her head, fingers flying on the screen of her yo-yo. "Neither the news or the Ladyblog says there's been an akuma sighted anywhere, but this _has_ to be part of one."

A scream from the streets below sent them both into action. Ladybug spotted the woman being menaced by what looked like walking-upright versions of the shadows and pointed to show Chat where to go. She swung through the pile of shadows, collecting the woman and depositing her safely several blocks away. Chat Noir followed, driving one of the new shadows into the ground with his staff before it, too, dove into the sidewalk and reformed a short way away.

"This is a breaking news alert," the woman's phone said, still playing what she had been watching before the monsters had appeared. "There are multiple confirmed sightings around Paris of monsters made of shadows. Citizens are advised to stay together in well-lit areas as much as possible and requested not to engage in travel unless absolutely necessary."

"We're going to need help, my Lady," Chat Noir shouted, blocking a strike and counter-striking a shadow into the wall of a building across the street. "Now might be a good time for backup."

"We're going to need something bigger than backup!" she shouted back, an edge of panic in her voice as more shadows started to form around them, replacing the ones they were poofing with alarming speed.

* * *

Chat Noir searched his brain for an idea. Something that could even buy a little time to think while this onslaught was going on would be better than nothing. He had to hurry, though. Soon enough, the fears of Paris would draw Hawk Moth's attention, and then there would be bigger problems to deal with.

Unless...

"I have an idea!" he shouted. It was risky, he felt, but Ladybug had to stay safe. Hopefully, he could stay alive long enough for her to find the source of these shadows and stop them.

Adrien Agreste, the model, knew how to call up and dismiss most emotions, because photographers wanted to believe that you were experiencing it genuinely so they could get the best possible picture. Happy and carefree were the ones they wanted the most, but once you knew how it was done, any emotion was on tap for a shoot.

But there were some emotions that Adrien kept hidden behind the mask. The dream from last night had pulled his fear out of him, but that still left plenty to draw on. And right now, anger seemed the easiest to tap into. How many times had Hawk Moth empowered an akuma that went on to kill someone? They drowned with Ondine, they froze with Phillipe, and Aurore...a lot happened with Aurore.

It certainly didn't help that his father couldn't be bothered to ask about his day, his friends, or anything other than his damn schoolwork, piano, and Chinese lessons. And he didn't even do that directly! He made _Nathalie_ keep tabs on him, and hired the Gorilla to make sure he went where he was supposed to. At this point, he wasn't sure whether he was Gabriel's son or just another company asset.

"Chaton!" Ladybug shouted, breaking his concentration at Hulking out. He followed her point to see the purple butterfly streaking at him, trying to make haste to the source of such powerful emotions. She looked scared, like she knew she wouldn't be able to reach him in time. She didn't need to worry, but it was nice that she cared.

"Cataclysm!" he called, letting the anger infuse Plagg's gift to him: the ability to destroy anything he touched. If Hawk Moth had suspected a trap, it was too late for him to act on it now. Chat Noir reached out with his destructive power and crushed the purple butterfly with his Cataclysm, letting all the anger that he had built up to attract it fade away.

"Gotcha!" he said. Cataclysm usually destroyed whatever object the akuma had bonded with, freeing it for Ladybug to capture. He'd never seen what Cataclysm might do directly to an akuma, but he hadn't had that many opportunities to test it.

The purple butterfly turned black and dispersed into nothing. The shadows retreated to the darkness almost as quickly.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug cried, running over to him. "Are you hurt? Did the akuma get you?"

"Nah," he said, smiling. "I gave that akuma a taste of Cataclysm, and it turned black and disappeared."

Ladybug looked at him with relief for a brief second, then transformed her look to one of aggravation.

"That was reckless!" she hissed at him. "You could have been akumatized!"

He flicked open his staff and tuned in the news report.

"Accounts are now coming in that the shadows that have been attacking Parisians are disappearing. Hopefully, this means that Ladybug and Chat Noir have saved us all again."

"Nothing to it," Chat Noir said, smiling. "And besides, bugaboo, you would have been able to save me and bring me back. I think this could be an easy way of exhausting Hawk Moth without putting anyone in danger."

Ladybug looked distinctly unimpressed with him. Her eyes flicked up to a space above him, and then she pointed.

Turning around, he saw a giant writhing mass of the shadows, forming themselves into a column of bodies.

"Or not," he said, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. "Well, at least now they're all in one place?"

Whatever Ladybug's reply, it was lost to the wind when the tower of shadows attempted to squash them. Leaping out of its way, Chat Noir and Ladybug swung their weapons into the mass, but while whatever they connected with proofed immediately, another shadow swarmed in to fill the gap left behind.

Dodging and striking, they led the tower on a chase over the rooftops of Paris, picking off as many shadows as they could without allowing the tower to get too close to them. After a particularly hard flurry, Chat Noir's ring beeped.

"Gotta finish this fast," he said. "I'm running out of time."

"I'll try and draw it away," she said, slinging her yo-yo behind her into the flower before using it to make a turn toward the Seine. Chat Noir turned the opposite way, giving himself an extra boost to see if he could get some extra distance between himself and the tower.

The tower followed him without losing speed. Chat Noir hissed and started picking up speed, trying to find somewhere that could hide him. He couldn't shake the shadows through the alleyways or give it the slip by running through the Métro stations. At least people were still staying inside, he realized. Having civilians around would have made everything more complicated.

After several rounds of trying and failing to shake his tail, and another couple beeps from his ring, Chat Noir started to look for a good spot for an extremely heroic last stand, where he could hopefully give his Lady enough time to defeat the tower before it got to her. Given how much space there was in it to move around, the Eiffel Tower seemed like an obvious choice. They could play plenty of cat and mouse there.

Chat Noir had a route planned out on how to twist the shadow tower into as many knots as he could get, but it only lasted through the first turn. The shadow tower anticipated his plan and only Chat Noir's cat-like reflexes prevented him from being swarmed immediately.

Dropping down to a lower level, Chat's footing slipped and he crashed hard to the girders. The tower dove at him as he tried to get himself into a position where he could at least take some of those shadows with him. His Lady would at least be able to see him go down fighting.

Right before the tower closed on him, it exploded. Shadows poofed as they flashed past his face. Chat Noir was somewhat glad he was already flat on the floor, or the wind generated by the rush of bodies might have made a safe landing difficult.

He crawled to the edge of his platform, looking down to see a small streak of red and black reel in...something.

"There's no way she could have made that shot," he said to himself. "It would have had to have been a—"

"Miraculous Ladybug!" he heard on the wind, as a bright burst of red and black ladybugs scattered in all directions.

"Of course," Chat chuckled to himself.

His ring beeped again, the insistent _find somewhere safe to change_ beep. Looking around, he spotted the lift that would take him back to the ground level. It was starting to get chilly, now that the excitement was done. And he needed to be in bed soon, or Nathalie would start sending out search parties.


	3. Working Together

It _had been_ a dream, hadn't it? The pedestals, the stained glass floors of a sleeping Ladybug, a wide awake Marinette, and then of Marinette and Adrien, each looking for all the world like what they needed most in life was a friend. The creatures of darkness. The shield in red and black that became her trusted yo-yo when she picked it up. Agonizing between whether to sacrifice the sword or the wand. Realizing she needed the sword's physical grace more, after tripping over herself as she paced back and forth between them. The questions, and her fears, and the monstrosity at the end that she had only barely beaten.

The really cryptic advice she'd been given right before she woke up.

_Those who wish to forge the ultimate weapon must control the light **and** the darkness._

Yet, Chat Noir had had the same dream. Or at least one similar enough. And then the monsters from her dream appeared. And she and Chat Noir had fought them off.

Well, first Chat Noir had fused them into some kind of super-powered versions of themselves by trying to use his Cataclysm directly on an akuma. She was going to have to talk to him about taking risks like that.

And then her Lucky Charm had turned her yo-yo into some sort of key-shaped sword. With string firmly wrapped around the handle so that she could throw it. And it had apparently shown her which of the shadows was the one at the heart of the tower. Once that one got poofed from her throw, the rest followed.

She'd been relieved to see Chat get up and stroll toward the lift, but her earrings had chirped at her that she needed to find a safe spot to change back before she could be certain he was okay.

"It was supposed to have been a dream," she told Master Fu after school, as they mixed ingredients together to give Tikki another set of power cookies. Surprisingly, even though Chloé had been particularly ready to lob insults at anyone around her, everyone had escaped the day without dealing with the fallout of an akuma.

"Then it was a dream," he replied.

"But it wasn't! Those creatures were real!"

"Then it was real," he replied.

"Are you saying that so you don't have to make a decision?"

"Yes," he said.

She strangled a snarl of frustration at him. He was clearly good at being the guardian of the Miraculous, and at portraying the movie version of the sage Asian elder, but she needed less "wax on, wax off" and more "On deadly ground, fight."

"Perception and reality are very closely related," he said. "How we choose to see something helps to define it, possibly even to create it. Especially for you."

"Because of Tikki?"

Master Fu nodded. "Ladybug has the power of creation," he said. "What she considers to be true, she brings into reality."

"It would be nice if I could wish them all away," she said. "But I've been trying to wish away the akuma every time I run into one, and it doesn't seem to help."

"Ladybug looks to what is in your heart, not your head," Master Fu said. "So do the akuma. If you would wish them away, you must change Hawk Moth's heart."

"Maybe if I knew who Hawk Moth was, I could," she grumbled.

"Some things are still hidden, even from my eyes," Master Fu said mildly.

"I'm sorry, Master," she said contritely. "It's just—"

Shadows exploded into the creatures from her dream around them, cutting off her thought. It was only after she'd poofed the lot of them that she realized she hadn't fully transformed. She stared at the yo-yo in her hands.

"Master?" she asked, hoping he had an explanation ready for her, that this was some new facet of her abilities, or even that she needed to be careful about making sure she was fully transformed before behaving like Ladybug.

Master Fu was silent on all of those important parts.

"Paris needs Ladybug. You should transform all the way and find the akuma."

He wasn't wrong, even though that was the last thing she wanted to hear. She'd have to get answers out of him later.

"Tikki! Spots on!"

She ran out the door, swung herself up higher, and saw Chat Noir running. She followed his path with her eyes, to his likely destination.

That akuma was bigger than most. Figuring out where the purple butterfly that was powering it resided was going to take some time. As she swung closer, trying to catch up with Chat Noir, she saw that the akuma had brought an army of creatures with it. They all looked similar to the ones she'd seen in her dream, but some of them were in armor, some looked like small tops floating in the air, and a couple of them were shaped more like blown-up balloons than anything else. The creatures were already on their way to try and meet Chat Noir before he could get to the akuma. If Chat Noir could keep them all busy, then it would be much easier for her to beat the akuma.

Some of them spotted her on the way in and changed targets. So much for that plan.

Luckily, it turned out that all of the new types of creatures were just as vulnerable to her yo-yo and Chat Noir's staff as the old ones had been. She'd gotten shocked by some of the floating ones before she could reach them with her yo-yo, but they poofed easily. The balloon ones liked to try and charge when they thought her (or Chat Noir's) attention was distracted by some of the other creatures, but they were able to dodge the worst of it. It took them longer than they had anticipated to remove the shadows so they could concentrate on the akuma.

"Did you see who it was?" she asked Chat Noir.

"No idea," he replied. "Although this one looks kind of like a carnival clown, don't they?"

"Certainly does," she said, smiling. "I'll bet the akuma is in his big red nose."

It took a lot of positioning, a Lucky Charm that summoned a rubber chicken, and a truly awful pun about "clowning around", before Chat Noir could knock the nose off his face and then hit it with his Cataclysm, but the purple butterfly dutifully popped out and was purified. One Miraculous Cure later, it was time to pound it.

"Well, bravo," said a womanly voice as a purple column appeared where the akuma had been, revealing someone in blue armor holding a pair of iron fans.

"Have we met before?" she asked the blue knight. "You sound familiar."

"I am Mayura," the blue knight said, bowing. "We have met, but not face to face. You certainly showed some skill there. Would you consider joining Hawk Moth? Or, at the very least, surrendering your Miraculous to him? He'll only need them for a short while, and then everything will be better."

"No deal," Chat Noir said. "I wouldn't trust Hawk Moth to make anything better after he got done with it."

"How unfortunate," Mayura replied. "You can still help, though. Just tell me where I can find Adrien Agreste, and I'll be on my way."

"Why would we help you?" Chat Noir said angrily.

"Silly kitty," the blue knight said. "Hawk Moth is trying to bring back the thing he loves the most. Adrien is getting in the way of his own happiness, although he doesn't realize it."

"How terrible it must be to have a child foil Hawk Moth so easily," Chat Noir said mockingly. "Maybe we can do the same for you."

Mayura flicked open her fans and assumed an aggressive stance. Chat Noir growled and everyone readied themselves to fight.

"This certainly doesn't seem like a fair fight, now does it?" Mayura said. The purple portal appeared behind her, and the blue knight backed into it, keeping both of them in front of her until she disappeared from sight.

Chat Noir relaxed a little bit, smiling. So did Ladybug.

Who would curse herself later for that lapse in vigilance: a feather flew out from the portal of darkness, stabbing itself into Chat Noir's chest.

"That'll even things up," the blue knight's voice said from the portal. "Have fun killing your partner, Ladybug!" She laughed as the portal disappeared.

Chat Noir dropped to his knees. The feather dissolved into a black ink racing across his body. She rushed to help him, but he waved her away.

"No!" he said. "I can feel the darkness." He doubled over in pain, clutching his chest.

"I'm not leaving you!" she said. "We can fight this together."

He shook his head. "I'm becoming an akuma," he ground out. "It's like Dark Cupid's arrow, Zombizou's kiss, and my Cataclysm all decided to have a dance party in my heart. _Run!_ "

"No. Fight it!" she said. "You're stronger than anyone I know, Chat Noir. You can beat this! Don't give in!"

He shook his head. "Get out of here while you can, Ladybug! If you're still here, I'm going to try to kill you."

She opened her mouth to reply, but he screamed in pain as the ink consumed him, writhing around him, and then launched itself off of Chat Noir, forming an inky puddle not far away from them.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I feel like a part of my heart is missing," he replied, standing back up slowly. "It hurts."

The inky puddle pulsed and began to form itself into something vaguely human-shaped, but with cat ear outlines, a tail, what looked to be very sharp claws on the end of its paws, and glowing green eyes.

"It looks like you," she said to Chat Noir.

The darkness raised both forepaws, gathering a ball of darkness into each one before crushing it and infusing his claws with the dark power.

"Two of them?" Chat Noir wheezed in disbelief. "Careful, Ladybug. This impost-Noir not only looks like me, he's got my special power."

Chat Noir's ring chirped. Her earrings answered with a chirp of their own.

"Fight or flight?" she asked him.

"You know me," he replied. "I say we make short work of this copycat."

"But how?" she asked. If the ink Chat got close enough to touch either of them, bye-bye Miraculous. Without a Lucky Charm charge, she couldn't bring anything to the battle to help.

"Over here!" Chat Noir said, waving his arms. "Nice juicy Miraculous holder, out in the open, clearly nowhere to run."

"Do you have a death wish?" she hissed at him.

"Better," he replied with a smug grin. "I've got a plan."

The inky Chat charged at them, paws outstretched. Ladybug tensed to dive out of the way immediately but Chat laced his fingers in hers.

"Together," he said, right before engaging his staff to put them much higher than before. The ink-Chat touched the chimney behind them with both hands, crumbling it into dust far faster than Chat had anticipated. Turning to face them, it deliberately re-summoned another pair of Cataclysm into its hands.

"That's not fair," she grumbled. "Why do boss characters always get to ignore the rules?"

"To make it more satisfying when you smash them into little pieces?" Chat replied.

"That's not going to happen unless you really do have a plan," she retorted.

"Maybe we can get away far enough to recharge and come back fresh?" he suggested, springing a fair distance away on his staff.

The ink-Chat dove into the roof in the same way she had seen the other shadows do. She had enough time to shout a warning before it reappeared, launching itself at Chat from the space where he was going to land.

Then she noticed the staff had changed to a key-shaped sword, like the one he had described in his dream. And that Chat was pointed at the inkblot blade-first, rather than feet-first. Which meant that Chat wasn't trying to avoid the ink-Chat, he was trying to _take it with him_.

She was going to yell at him _so_ much about taking risks.

But she still didn't have a Lucky Charm to power her own blade-on-a-string. Which meant this—wait, was his blade expanding like the staff? She watched as Chat's sword extended to the length of a lance, catching the inkblot off guard long enough to smash it on the head. The strike changed the inkblot's momentum just enough to miss Chat Noir as he sailed over it.

Maybe he did have a plan that didn't involve senseless self-sacrifice after all. Which meant she should use her time wisely. She swung herself off of the rooftop, ducked into an alley, and de-transformed, feeding Tikki macarons as fast as she could stuff the kwami's face and listening in dread of hearing Chat Noir cry out in pain. After what seemed an eternity, she transformed back into Ladybug and leapt up to rejoin the fight.

Chat's skill with his staff, or this key-staff-sword-thing, had clearly improved without her noticing. He extended and retracted the weapon with ease, keeping a healthy distance between himself and the inkblot, and occasionally landing a solid blow. She had trouble figuring out where she could help with her yo-yo, before remembering what would help more than just another weapon that could be grabbed by Cataclysm-powered hands.

As was its wont, the Lucky Charm was _spectacularly_ unhelpful at suggesting an obvious course of action. Nonetheless, she fitted the eyepiece to her mask and took a look and what it could show her. Nothing looked different at first glance. Chat Noir continued to keep the inkblot at bay, but it didn't seem to be taking any damage from the attacks. She couldn't see any weak point in the inkblot itself, unlike when she had shattered the shadow tower earlier. Scanning Chat Noir didn't provide any help, either. Until the inkblot took a dive into the rooftop. Then she could see the thread extending from Chat Noir, looking for something.

"You have to cut the thread!" she shouted at him.

"What thread?"

He couldn't see it. She couldn't get close enough to give him the scope. The inkblot resurfaced behind Chat Noir, and only his reflexes saved him from getting struck with Cataclysm-powered hands. Which the inkblot immediately summoned again. This time, she saw the thread much more clearly. Every time the inkblot used the Cataclysm, it was pulling a little more from Chat Noir. She could see the connection, so she had to break it. She flung her yo-yo to wrap around the thread, but it passed through it as if it weren't there.

Maybe if she had that key on a string again? But that had taken a Lucky Charm of its own, and she couldn't de-transform and keep the ability to see what she should be aiming at. It would be nice if she could just summon it at will, like she had with her yo-yo earlier. But that had been a reaction, not a conscious effort.

She needed to protect him before the inkblot could hurt her partner further. Her heart surged with the need to protect him—And somehow, she had the key-on-a-string in her hands.

The inkblot seemed to know, too. It turned to her and charged. She dove out of the way and tried to swing herself to better ground, but the inkblot appeared right in front of her and swiped at her. She leapt back.

"Grab on!"

She raised her hand and caught Chat's staff, pulling her violently backward and up toward him.

The new perspective made it easy to spot the thread as his staff retracted. One shot. She let go of the staff as it brought her next to the thread, driving her key into the thread and splitting it as she rode it down to the inkblot. One final slash and the inkblot's head rolled to a stop a short distance away. She leapt back in case it reformed (and to admire her work), but instead the inkblot dissolved itself into darkness.

"Pound it," Chat Noir said weakly to her, offering his fist and a grin from his knees.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" she cried, calling on the Cure to fix the extensive damage that had been done to Paris from this latest incursion. The ladybugs rushed their way through the streets, righting everything that had been touched and made wrong.

Chat Noir, however, stayed on his knees. Then slowly slumped to the ground.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Miraculous Cure cured everything. _Everything._ It was part of the reason Hawk Moth kept trying, she thought. If Miraculous Cure took care of the damage, then he could have a free rein in doing whatever he wanted, no matter how many people were hurt. Or killed.

Her partner was still unconscious on the ground. She needed to get him to safety somehow. Master Fu's was not that far away. She could pick him up so long as she was still—

Her earrings chirped. That was the plan, then. She rolled Chat Noir onto his back, sat him up, then slung her yo-yo around a good pulley point and him, hauling him up to his feet and holding him there while she thought about how to figure out the next shot.

She draped his arms over her shoulders, making sure she had a grip on him before slinging her yo-yo and swinging her way toward Master Fu's. He nearly slipped out of her grip on the first swing, but her momentum held, and she slung her way to Fu's front door just before her transformation expired.

"Master!" she cried, knocking on the door. When Master Fu opened it, he nodded, and helped her carry the still unconscious Chat into his massage room, where they gently laid him down on on the futon.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know! We were fighting an akuma, and we purified it, then this knight who called herself Mayuri or something—"

"Mayura?" he asked, clearly startled.

"Yes." She recounted the battle at an increasingly frantic pace as more details came to mind, now that it was over. "—and I don't know what to do!" she finished.

Master Fu leaned down and listened to Chat Noir's chest. "Good," he said. "Chat Noir still has his heart."

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that Chat Noir is not lost to the darkness yet. Someone will have to awaken him from the thing that wishes to possess his heart," Fu said. "Someone who has mastered the powers of their Keyblade could try, but it is a dangerous journey."

"Key-what?" she said. "Like the key-on-a-string thing?"

"Precisely." He nodded. "For now, however, you must rest. Tikki will need to recharge before we contemplate any thoughts of rescue."

She nodded, exhaustion slamming into her as the last of her adrenaline and Ladybug energy took flight.

"What if there's another akuma attack?" she mumbled, trying to fight off sleep.

"It will be handled," Master Fu assured her. "It is unlikely that Hawk Moth will try again so soon after being defeated. Even his Miraculous needs time to recharge. So, likely, does Mayura's. Rest, Marinette. If an akuma comes, we will need Ladybug to be ready."

"Call Mom and Dad," she slurred. "Not a school night, but they'll be worried."

"I will take care of it."

She flopped out on a couch and fell asleep despite her worries.


	4. Another Side

Master did not seem disturbed or surprised by the appearance of a black-clad hooded figure in his massage room soon after Ladybug passed out on a couch in his office. Wayzz knew his master could sometimes sense the presence of others, but this felt like an arranged meeting rather than a spontaneous social call. As was their protocol, Wayzz hid himself where he could observe and listen without being noticed.

"Would you like some tea, Master Ansem?" Master said, bowing to the figure.

"Yes, I would," he replied, lowering his hood. "I have missed your jasmine sorely."

Not long after, the two were seated comfortably in Master's kitchen, cups and kettle gently steaming in front of them. 

"So you found a Keyblade wielder and gave her the Ladybug," Ansem said, sipping the tea.

"Yes," Master replied. "It is...refreshing, perhaps, that the Heartless here come only one or two at a time. It gives her practice at a somewhat relaxed pace."

"That seems to have changed recently," Ansem said dryly. "Perhaps this world has finally been connected more firmly to the darkness than before."

"Perhaps," Master said, sipping his tea. "Perhaps not. Hawk Moth has always been invested in grand creations born of the darkness inside people's hearts. The presence of the smaller, more numerous Heartless suggest that there is someone else who is working with him, and does not care quite as much about artistic design as sheer overwhelming force."

"You seem to have a suspect in mind," Ansem said, sipping his own tea.

Master nodded. "I had hoped to be able to teach them more about the powers of their Keyblades before an emergency such as this happened, but it appears we are running short on time. While they can manifest their Keyblade Armor easily enough, they have yet to learn the finer arts of the Formchange for the blades they have been given."

"They?" Ansem said, his surprise evident. "You have given out more than one Keyblade to the people in this world? Is that wise?"

"Ladybug needs allies much more than she needs to learn how to master different Keyblades," Master said archly. "She has chosen worthy persons to wield the Fox and the Bee. I think she may also have selected my successor for the Turtle, perhaps without realizing it."

"Interesting," Ansem said. "Does the thought of finally growing old and returning to Kingdom Hearts disturb you, Fu?"

"That is not a subject I wish to discuss with _you_ of all people, Master Ansem the Wise." Wayzz stifled a chuckle. Master was not usually this expressive with his visitors.

"I am corrected," Ansem said, chuckling. "You did not call me here just for pleasantries and tea, however."

Master got up from the table, taking his tea with him, and led Ansem back into the massage room Wayzz repositioned himself to continue listening.

"Ah, yes, this," Ansem said, staring at the sleeping Chat Noir. "Who is this?"

"Chat Noir is a friend of hers. Perhaps more than a friend, depending on who you ask."

"He is a Replica," Ansem said sternly. "That much is obvious from a cursory examination. I gather, from his costuming, that he wields a Keyblade of his own. Why did you give him a Keyblade?"

"To protect him," Master replied evenly.

"Protect him?" Ansem asked. "A Replica does not—"

" _—he has a heart,_ " Master said, cutting Ansem off.

" ** _WHAT?_** " Ansem nearly bellowed.

"I do not know how, but when Émilie Agreste separated herself, a portion of her heart landed in the Replica and took the form of her son. I suspect it has something to do with the Peacock breaking, but only Émilie knows what happened on that fateful day." Fu sipped his own tea. "Chat Noir is a Replica, yes, but he has developed a complete heart from the fragment of Émilie that landed in him. I suspect, based on what Ladybug has told me, he no longer needs Émilie's heart."

"Hmm," Ansem said, examining Chat Noir more closely. "Yes, I see. I can only see part of a heart here, but it is very rapidly reassembling itself and filling in the gaps where something else once was."

"Then the stage is set for Émilie's reintegration," Master said.

"Does anyone know this?" Ansem asked.

Master shrugged. "Her Nobody might. He has been using the Butterfly to create Heartless. He believes having the Ladybug and the Black Cat together will allow him to make a wish to bring her back."

"And her Heartless?" Ansem prompted.

"She has only very recently been seen, and she precipitated the attack that severed the last piece of Émilie's heart from Chat Noir. If she knows her heart is together again, she will likely take greater care to guard it."

"Could they forge a χ-blade with the Ladybug and the Black Cat?" Ansem asked gravely.

"Not by themselves," Master said, after thinking for a bit. "If Chat Noir's heart were pure enough, perhaps he could serve as the vessel for the χ-blade. I do not think he will be in danger of that. Émilie would be very unhappy to return to herself only to find the situation was just as it were when she separated."

"Then why give the Replica—"

"—Chat Noir—"

"—Chat Noir, such a powerful Keyblade?"

Master poured himself more tea. Whether he was thirsty, or to give himself time to think about what he would say next, Wayzz did not know.

"I think it is safest with him," Master eventually ventured.

Ansem raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You think it safest to place a powerful darkness in the hands of a puppet created by those who would exploit it for their own purposes?"

"If Ladybug is correct about him," Master replied, "the attachments he has to them are fairly weak."

Ansem still looked skeptical.

"He was created to give the appearance that Émilie was the sole victim of an 'accident'," Master continued. "So long as he continues to play the role, they will not notice him. _Or_ his keyblade."

"And when he no longer has the _heart_ to play the role?" Ansem prodded.

"Then his friends will protect him," Master said, the simple phrase bearing a note of finality.

"You asked my advice on this matter," Ansem said. "This is it: If you truly believe in the heart of the Replica, someone with the power of waking will need to dive into his heart and bring him back from the dreams of darkness." Ansem shook his head. "I do not believe this is a sound plan. Your faith in his friends is much more than mine, Master Fu," Ansem said, rising from the mattress and pulling the hood up above his face again. "I made the mistake of trusting someone that I should not have. You should not have to go through the same thing."

Master nodded and cleared the tea set into the kitchen. When he returned, Ansem had disappeared.

"Again, Master Ansem," Master Fu said quietly. "Again."

* * *

As dreams went, this one wasn't the worst he'd ever had.

To say that, of course, meant knowing what actual experiences Adrien Agreste had been through in his life that having a dream about floating adrift in a sea of complete blackness was not the worst. And he wasn't sure how long he had been floating, nor how long he would continue to float, in the darkness.

To improve the dream, it turned out—at some point well after when the dream had started—that the sea was not complete darkness. Instead it had a sizable island that he could wash ashore on.

To improve the dream yet further, there was someone on the shore waiting for him.

"You're...well, you're me," he said to the Chat Noir in front of him.

"Almost, kid," Chat responded, in Plagg's unmistakably squeaky voice. "I don't suppose you have some Dreamembert to share?"

"Fresh out," Adrien said, but checked his pockets all the same, just in case.

"Hmph," Plagg Noir said, turning away from him. "See if I help you the next time you get trapped in a dream."

Adrien was mostly sure Plagg's pout wasn't serious. After a while, Plagg turned back to him. "So, good news: You're not dead. Bad news: You're missing a pretty significant chunk of your heart right now, and there are a lot of things that would love to fill in that gap."

Because dreams always had cinematic timing, one of the shadows he'd been fighting with Ladybug popped up from the sand.

"Like them, for example," Plagg said, pointing.

"Those guys aren't hard," he told Plagg, curling his fist, ready to transform.

No ring.

"Sorry, kid," Plagg said. "I'm holding you together as best I can right now. You're going to have to find some other way."

He looked around. Something, somewhere, had to be usable as a weapon. Sand and water might dry into a nice fortress, but they wouldn't help against creatures that could phase through solid matter.

Well, he'd always wanted to punch an anthropomorphic representation of darkness in the face, but his father was busy all of the time, and neither Le Pen had ever been close enough for him to consider it. He chuckled, remembering a sign he'd seen Mylène working on: _Any pen is better than Le Pen._ He could see it, and the determination in her eyes, pretty clearly in his memory. Most people knew her to be quiet and shy, but Adrien had seen another side of her.

And then she was there, on the island with him, carrying her protest sign.

The small shadow leapt at her.

Adrien expected Mylène to scream in terror. Instead she squashed the bit of darkness flat with the sign.

Adrien blinked. Plagg Noir's jaw hung open. Mylène turned, gave Adrien a thumbs-up, and dissolved into sand.

"Well," Plagg said, not quite fully over the shock, "that was...effective. Good work, kid, keep it up."

A small squadron of soldier-looking characters popped in. The learning curve, apparently, was not going to go easy on Adrien.

He thought about what had just happened before a frankly silly idea came to mind. Hadn't he recently heard Kim talking about wanting to prove how he could run circles around the entire English national football squad? He'd called them 'the evil on the island'? Well, here was some evil on the island; wouldn't Kim love to take these lot down?

Adrien continued to imagine Kim's commentary, even though it was half in sports hyperbole, and then, Kim was there on the island, dressed in the national team's kit, casually dribbling a nub-covered football between his feet.

"Those jokers?" Kim said, jerking his thumb at the oncoming rush. "Piece of cake."

Kim kicked up the football, bounced it on his knee once, then volleyed it off the faceplate of the first soldier hard enough that the soldier popped into the air and poofed before touching the sand again.

Adrien watched as Kim leapt into the air, volleyball-spiked the ball into the closest soldier (leaving only a head-shaped dent in the sand), carried his spike momentum into a graceful flip, and heel-smashed the rebound off the spike into the next soldier.

Adrien knew Kim enjoyed sport, but also that he was not this kind of ball virtuoso. Maybe he was mixing Kim with some video game character he'd been playing at some time.

He wasn't going to question the results, though: Kim made improbable shot after volley after strike, culminating in a bicycle kick that lit the ball (and the hapless last soldier) on fire before casually rolling back, in defiance of physics and real-world logic, to rest at Kim's cleats.

Kim picked the ball up, gave Adrien a very casual salute, and faded into the air.

"You're seeing this, too, right?" Adrien asked Plagg.

"Yep," Plagg replied, sounding as surprised as Adrien felt. "Don't stop now, though. Next wave's here!"

These ones were big. And there were a lot more of them than the soldiers. Which of the members of his class would do well with big-bellied enemies?

Someone who could swat them away like insects and pop their bellies like balloons, Adrien realized. And why not make it her superpowered alter-ego? It's not like she tried to hide it.

"About time you pulled out someone good," Queen Bee said, shaking the sand from her hair after she had formed. In her hand was one of Adrien's fencing swords, black and gold striped down the blade and pointedly missing the safely tip.

"You know I'll fight for your heart, Adri-kins. And I'll _sting_ anyone who gets in my way!" Queen Bee gave the roly-polys a death glare.

They seemed unaffected.

Which only aggravated Queen Bee more.

"How _dare_ you refuse to cower at my ethereally beautiful, yet terror-inducing visage?" she shrieked, launching herself point-first at the nearest one. The point of the sword struck true, and the roly-poly's belly vibrated with the force of the strike.

Nothing happened past that, except Queen Bee's hair catching metaphorical fire from her rage. She launched herself over the entire company of roly-polys, looking infuriated, from where Adrien could see.

The sudden appearance of a dark cloud above Queen Bee and a tingling feeling on his skin gave Adrien enough warning to curl up into a ball, jam his eyes shut, and cover his ears. He wasn't sure if it actually helped much, as he could still hear Queen Bee's scream of frustration, and the subsequent thunderclap, perfectly well. The heat in the air suggested he should turn away from where he had last seen Queen Bee before opening his eyes.

"It's safe, Adri-kins," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "I took care of those ingrates for you. They had no appreciation of my style. And who creates such ridiculous things, anyway?"

A breeze sprang up to dissipate the heat, and Queen Bee's further complaints faded on the wind.

When he opened his eyes again, all he saw was the sand in front of him.

And Plagg.

"Any cheese yet?" Plagg asked, much more seriously.

Adrien felt in his pockets.

"Nope."

Plagg scowled. "I was sure you had it, then. Guess there must still be something in your heart to get rid of."

"Like that?" Adrien said, pointing at the massive and familiar shape rising out of the ground.

"Yeah," Plagg said. "That."

He'd beaten this one back already, in a different dream. But he'd been Chat Noir then. And if Plagg was to be believed, those powers were still out of his reach.

Well, he'd already summoned one superhero today, why not another? Adrien closed his eyes and tried to pull Ladybug from his memory, thinking about her bravery, honesty, loyalty to her partner, determination to succeed, brilliance at adapting, smarts—

"Adrien?"

He snapped his eyes open, expecting his partner.

Instead he'd summoned Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He tried to add on thoughts of grace and elegance, of surety of hand and skill, but nothing changed. For better or worse, he'd picked Marinette to fight this final battle.

The creature from his previous dream stared at Marinette. She stared right back at it, seemingly content to let it make the first move. Adrien had to help. Marinette didn't seem to have any sort of combat-ready skill he could think of, but when he stepped forward toward her, she put a hand behind her and shook her head.

"Trust me," she said.

The giant drove its hands toward the ground, looking to crush Marinette as easily as each of his previous friends had smashed their opponents.

His friends.

Adrien smiled. "My friends," he said quietly.

Marinette nodded at this, even though there was no way she had heard him, and stepped back one step. It shouldn't have made a difference, but the creature's hands slammed into the sand instead of Marinette. It raised them again, brought them down to squish Marinette, but she stepped to her left and the hands only pounded sand again.

Adrien watched this sequence replay itself several times before he realized what was different about this cycle. Everyone else had a weapon, as improbably as it might have been used. But Adrien had brought Marinette Dupain-Cheng into this battle without anything to fight with.

Marinette stepped away from another attempted flattening, a serene look on her face. She didn't seem to be trying all that hard, almost like she was—

That was it. Marinette wasn't just trying to dodge, she was _waiting_. Whatever weakness she was going to exploit, Marinette hadn't seen it yet. And she was giving as little away about what she could do while she waited.

Marinette whirled away from another attempt. She caught Adrien's eye and winked at him, as if to remind him more firmly that he was still in a dream. The actual Marinette would never have been so brazen. Or so sure-footed around him. Whatever talent he'd given this version of her, it must be a big one.

Now that he knew what she was doing, Adrien could see the calculations going through Marinette's head as she weaved in and out of smashing range with a deceptive ease. She was studying the creature, as if it were a design to put in her sketchbook, and when she knew everything she wanted to know about it, then it would be time for Marinette to act.

"Boss creatures always take the longest to scan," Marinette said, shaking her head. Reaching behind herself without actually looking to see what was there, Marinette pulled open a door that Adrien hadn't noticed pop out of the sand at some point between looking at Marinette and looking at the nightmare.

A yo-yo flung itself out of the darkness, wrapping itself around one of the limbs of the creature. Almost immediately afterward, Ladybug sailed through, leg outstretched to deliver a flying kick that appeared to do no damage at all to the creature. Dropping to the sand, Ladybug startled at the sight of Marinette.

"You're here," Marinette said. "Now we can take this down together."

"Together," Ladybug nodded. "What's the plan, Marinette?" she said, stressing the name a little oddly.

"Boss fight," Marinette said. "Find the weak point, memorize the pattern, pound it into oblivion."

"Going to need your help, Marinette," Ladybug said.

"Cheese," Plagg said, striding over to Adrien. This time, it wasn't a question. Adrien went immediately to the correct pocket and found a fresh wedge of something stinky enough for Plagg's tastes. He tossed it to Plagg, who resumed his normal kwami form long enough to eat the entire wedge whole without chewing.

"Claws out!" Adrien whispered excitedly, ready to get back into the game.

"Nuh-uh," Plagg said, diving into his shirt. "We're not even close to there yet. Besides, what do you need me for? Those two will wipe the floor with this creature. Just watch."

Adrien watched as Marinette ran and drew the black orbs firing from the creature as Ladybug harassed it from the opposite side, striking it repeatedly with yo-yo tosses. When the creature changed targets, Ladybug slung the yo-yo across to Marinette, who proceeded to thump the creature from her side while Ladybug ducked, dove, and dodged around the orbs of darkness. When the creature switched targets back, Marinette returned the yo-yo. Each pass of the yo-yo- resulted in one more strand being wrapped around the creature, which seemed to restrict its ability to move or summon orbs a little more.

"They work like a team," Adrien said, amazed, as he watched the exchanges take place. "Like they've known each other forever."

Adrien didn't realize how wrapped up the creature had gotten until it sent out a giant black orb from its chest, breaking the line and tripping both Marinette and Ladybug. Both rolled to an upright position, Marinette sitting, Ladybug standing.

"The finisher!" Marinette shouted, miming the input for the super-uppercut from Ultimate Mecha Strike III

"With pleasure," Ladybug replied, flinging her yo-yo toward the forehead of the creature. When the yo-yo connected, the creature stumbled backward slightly before falling entirely into the water surrounding the island.

"Yeah! Victory!" Marinette cheered. She and Ladybug exchanged a fistbump. Almost immediately, Ladybug's earrings chirped the very loud 'find somewhere safe to change back' warning. Ladybug flung her yo-yo back into the doorway and leapt in after it.

Marinette held the door open and smiled at Adrien with a twinkle in her eye before dissolving into sand, like everyone else he'd called on had done. He felt the ring on his hand and Plagg in his heart, ready to get back into the fray.

"Claws out!" he shouted, relishing in the familiar feel of the costume he'd spent far too long out of in this dream. He grinned and ran through the door, staff at the ready for what other challenges might lie beyond.

His eyes popped open and he sat up, gasping.

"Where am I?" he said.


	5. Rage Awakened

"I was trying to get Master Fu to tell me how to rescue you," Ladybug told him, "but he kept saying I wasn't experienced enough to wake you from your sleep. And then you woke up by yourself."

"Lucky me," Chat Noir said to the man Adrien also knew as his Chinese tutor. "Seems like there's a lot more to learn about everything than we thought earlier. Is there anything else that you want to teach us? Like how to stop Hawk Moth, maybe? Or Mayura?"

"Hawk Moth and Mayura are more like you than the akuma," Master Fu said.

"So they have Miraculous," Chat said. "Those can be taken. By force if needed."

"They have strong hearts," Master Fu said, frowning at Chat Noir. "They will not surrender their Miraculous any more easily than you have in the face of their attacks. Given how much they have carried their hearts in darkness, they will be troublesome foes for anyone."

"If we beat them, though, no more akuma?" Ladybug asked. Chat Noir could hear the hope in her voice.

"Perhaps," Master Fu said. "If you beat them and recover their Miraculous, many fewer akuma. That much is certain."

"What about those other creatures?" Chat asked. "They're not all akuma, are they?"

"They are, and they are not," Master Fu said. "Akuma are made from the well of darkness in the heart, given form and shape by Hawk Moth. The Heartless are born when a heart is stolen by the darkness. They are keepers of the stolen heart until they are defeated."

"Like Zombizou or Style Queen?" Chat frowned. Neither of those experiences had been particularly pleasant. To think that his heart might have been stolen away from him was terrible to contemplate.

Master Fu nodded. "Yes. Sometimes when an akuma attacks, the heart is captured and a Heartless is created, but the body stays behind and is used for evil purposes."

"Like what happened with the Pharaoh or Darkblade," Ladybug nodded.

Master Fu nodded again. "Nobodies left behind this way are fearsome foes if under the control of a more powerful Nobody."

"Why are they appearing now?" Chat asked.

"Mayura," Ladybug said. "I'll bet she has some sort of power to control them."

"That is certainly possible," Master Fu said. "Many wielders of Keyblades have developed powers over light and darkness."

"Keyblades?" they both asked together.

Master Fu nodded. "There is much to teach you about the powers that you have. I had hoped to be able to do so gradually, as the situations and akuma warranted, but the situation has changed."

He sighed and motioned them over to the mat where Chat Noir had been sleeping.

"Let us begin at the beginning. The Miraculous you have are ancient artifacts passed down from the beginnings of time. Each of them has a special ability in their domain, and their powers are guarded and intermediated by the kwami. These Miraculous are also Keyblades, ancient tools used to unlock the power of hearts and maintain balance between the realms of light and darkness. As such, they have the power to change their forms and the forms of the people that wield them."

Ladybug blinked. "So that's why my yo-yo and Chat Noir's staff turned into those key-looking swords."

Master Fu nodded. "And the costumes that you wear are your Keyblade Armor, meant to protect you and guard your heart from being corrupted or stolen. Many of the powers of the Keyblade you have already used in one form or another. What we must do now is give you control over them, so that you may summon them at will."

Chat Noir knew what was going to happen next. He hoped that whoever was in charge of the cosmic soundtrack picked a good album for this training montage.

* * *

Adrien was sore the next day. Thankfully, it was a light day for homework and fencing class was about practicing some of the simpler forms. He saw Marinette finishing a delivery on his way back and offered to walk with her back to the bakery. She accepted with her usual tongue-tied excitement and then proceeded to radiate nervousness as they walked along. He was used to fans getting twisted up over him, but Marinette was a classmate and a friend. He hoped that whatever was keeping her from being more casual with him would clear up soon.

"Um...not to ask a silly question," she said as they approached the bakery, flashing a cute smile at him at pointing, "but do you see the creature of darkness over there, too?"

He followed where she was pointing, expecting to see Chloé or someone else that had issues with Marinette, and saw something that looked like one of the inkblot creatures he and Ladybug had fought before.

"There's something over there that looks weird," he said, noncommittally, looking to see if there was something he could distract Marinette with. He spun around, looking for Mayura, but if she had been there, there wasn't a trace of it now. When had she—?

"Okay," Marinette said, her face abruptly shifting from sweet to unsettlingly determined. "I wanted to be sure that I wasn't dreaming when I _beat the tar out of Lila_."

"Lila?" he said.

"Adrien," she said, cracking her knuckles in contrast to her cheerful voice, "don't you see? Lila's right in front of us. And she's going to regret whatever scheme she has cooked up this time."

He peered more closely at the inkblot creature. This one could pass as Lila if he squinted, he supposed, but Marinette was marching up to it like she fully intended to put it in the hospital with her fists.

The inkblot took the first swing. Marinette caught the punch in her right hand and connected with the other, sending the inkblot bouncing over the sidewalk.

He snapped his jaw shut, realizing staring wasn't going to help fix the rapidly-developing problem. He had never known Marinette to be particularly violent about anyone before now. Except Lila, he realized, where Marinette was a powder keg waiting for a match. She hated liars, and Lila couldn't tell the truth even if it would save her life.

It didn't help that Lila also triggered jealous reactions in everyone who thought they had a stake in being Adrien Agreste's petite-amie. He'd kept an eye on how things were progressing, because it could always end in an akuma attack, but he'd tried his best to stay out of giving anyone encouragement or validation on that front. He hadn't realized that Marinette's clumsiness and inability to string together sentences might have been because she liked him in that way. He'd thought she was just shy, and it expressed itself in painfully cute ways.

Marinette was anything but cute, however, as she blocked a clumsy punch from the inkblot and landed a one-two combination in retaliation that he recognized as one of Nora Césaire's openers from her last fight. Had the inkblot stayed within range, Adrien had a feeling Marinette would have gone for the uppercut that usually followed.

Either Marinette had an eidetic memory for highlight clips (which he had been watching over their shoulders as Alya showed Marinette before class), and an instinctive grasp of technique, or she had been learning how to box from a professional. Probably the latter, but when had Marinette found time for that?

He shook himself. He needed to focus on blotting out Inky. If it was anything like the one that had spawned when Mayura had struck him with the feather, then Marinette's heart was in danger. Hawk Moth was probably getting ready to send a butterfly to speed the process along.

Time to find a convenient hiding place. He winced in sympathy for the inkblot's face as Marinette landed the uppercut she'd threatened before, sending the inkblot flying over a rooftop to the next street over. Once she was out of sight, he ducked into an alley and transformed. Chat Noir could handle this much more easily.

He leapt up to the rooftop he had seen the inkblot fly over and peered down into the street below, to see Marinette slashing and stabbing with a very familiar-looking red- and black-spotted Keyblade.

She'd only had _one_ lesson with Mr. D'argencourt. He _knew_ this. Yet, her form was at least as good as Kagami's as she drove the inkblot back to the edge of the street with a flurry of thrusts and slashes. He readied himself to leap into the fray, but Marinette followed her final bslash by throwing the blade straight into where the inkblot would have kept its heart.

"Gotcha," she said with a pleased grin.

The inkblot grabbed onto the thread behind the sword, and before he could react, it swarmed up the thread and disappeared into Marinette. The sword disappeared and reappeared in her hands. Chat Noir jumped down and cautiously approached Marinette.

She opened her eyes and stared at him, pointing the sword aggressively at him.

Her eyes were the same shade as one of Hawk Moth's butterflies.

"Who got who?" she said, giving him a feral grin.

He advanced, all the same. He wasn't going to let Hawk Moth turn anyone into an akuma if he could help it.

"Ah-ah-ah," she said, waving the sword. "No closer, or Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng loses her heart."

"While 'Bringing the Du-pain-Cheng' does have a nice ring to it as your catchphrase," he quipped, "I don't think she's going to give in that easily."

He could deal with the realization that was swiftly working its way across his synapses later. Right now, he needed to figure out a way of getting that inkblot out of her.

"Why not take the superhero you see?" he goaded. "After all, you know I'm compatible with your brand of darkness."

She laughed and then grimaced. He saw her eyes flash blue.

"I'm not giving up that easily," she said, dropping the sword and kicking it toward him. "And that was a terrible pun."

Before he could get the sword off the ground, her eyes returned to purple. She jerked the string to pull the sword back into her hands.

"Noble sentiment," she said. "But you're not in control any more." She stretched her free hand toward the sky, as if waiting for something to arrive.

An akuma was on its way. He scanned the sky—there! He saw the purple butterfly flapping down. He had to stop it from taking over Marinette, or...or everyone was doomed. There was one way he knew would work, but it was not a good plan.

Some terrible ideas, he decided, deserved a second chance.

Summoning the Cataclysm, he leapt into the air. Marinette brought the sword up to guard against the attack she saw coming, giving him the perfect opportunity to bound over her and crush the butterfly with the Cataclysm.

She looked ready to laugh at his apparent incompetence, but he kept running until he was a safe distance away from her. When the vortex opened, he grinned as the inkblot abruptly flowed out of Marinette to become part of the greater darkness forming not too far away.

"Gotcha," he said playfully, mostly for his own benefit.

Marinette stood uncertainly, looking at the portal with Ladybug's Keyblade in her hand.

"Run, Marinette!" he shouted at her. "I'll hold it off until Ladybug arrives!"

She looked at him. It did not escape his notice that she was not looking at this situation like a scared teenager confronting something beyond her understanding, but like someone who had already seen how this had played out the first time, and was trying hard not to give her partner some very stern words about acting on impulse.

Marinette ran.

She had just disappeared out of sight when the swarm of Heartless erupted, just as he knew it would. Now he had to make good on his promise, and hope Ladybug didn't leave him out to die because he knew who she was.

Chat Noir knew he didn't want to get close to the tower of shadows, so he bounded off, using his staff for leverage and occasionally taking swipes with the Keyblade end of it when he felt he had the opportunity. It was satisfying to see he could do much more damage this time, but he still wasn't making progress on diminishing the volume or the speed of the tower as it pursued him across the rooftops of Paris.

His lady might have left him to die, thinking it safer to work with a new Chat than risk her identity being known. That was a sobering thought.

Thankfully, he didn't have to dwell on it too long, as he spotted a familiar yo-yo winding its way around a rooftop protrusion. Ladybug appeared soon after.

He didn't like the look in her eyes at all, but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Tag!" he yelled as he flew past her. She spun her yo-yo to shield them both from the tower before letting it fly right down the 'mouth' of the swarm, diving out of the way before it could envelop her. She tried to pull the cord tight and brace it against something, but the pull of the tower was too much, and soon she was being dragged behind, as if the shadows were a runaway kite.

Time to take a stand, then. He landed on a rooftop, spun his Keyblade so the pointy end faced the tower, and then stretched it as far as he thought it would go. The tower dodged the attack by dropping down, which suited him just fine. He brought the blade end down into the tower, and felt rewarded when it drew back from the strike.

"Catch!" Ladybug yelled at him, and a shadow popped out, given momentum and spin as it was released from the yo-yo's cord. He shrank the Keyblade and gave his very best Suzuki Swing, slashing through the shadow. He felt a satisfying pop from the shadow as it poofed.

The tower lost its coherence, and the shadows making it up disappeared into the air as they fell.

Ladybug landed next to him.

"Pound it," he offered, extending his fist for the usual post-victory dap.

"You know, don't you?" she said, looking him squarely in the eye. She was furious, even as she tried very hard to control it. 

"Know what?" he asked. She needed an out. He could give her one. If she took it, she'd thank him in the end.

" _Don't lie to me_ ," she said. She sounded like she was going to either cry on his shoulder or wallop him into next week, and what he said next was going to make the difference. "You _know_."

"Yes, I know," he said, resigned to whatever fate he deserved. He couldn't lie to her—he loved her too much.

"I'm so stupid," she said, sinking to the rooftop and curling up into a ball. "I let my guard down, and Mayura must have taken advantage, and then I got so angry I didn't even think, and now you know who I am."

"I could show you mine," he said. "Then we'd be even."

"No," she said, as if he had suggested he was going to fight Hawk Moth without his powers. "That's not how it works."

"Why not?" he countered. "All I have to do is stay here long enough until the claws run out. Then you'll know who your partner has been all this time. It's fair."

"No," she said again. "I...you...no. You can't stay here. If I don't know who you are, I can't tell anyone."

"Bugaboo..."

" _Go away, chaton!_ " she shouted. "Don't make this any harder."

"No," he said. "What you need most right now is a friend. I'm not leaving you like this. I'm not...letting Hawk Moth have a second chance at you." Best not to bring up that topic while she was vulnerable.

His ring chimed at him. It sounded a little more insistent than usual, as if it agreed with Ladybug.

"Is that the only reason?" she asked, looking him in the eyes again.

Apparently, the universe wasn't letting him avoid the subject.

"...no," he said finally. He wouldn't lie to her, even if he desperately wished this conversation could be happening anywhere else in any other circumstance.

"When I call you my lady," he said, "I mean it. I want you to be part of my life more."

"You want _Ladybug_ to be part of your life more," she corrected. "Without her, I'm just a bakery girl who can't put three words together around her crush without tripping over herself. Only sometimes figuratively."

He'd only seen Marinette get that wrapped up in herself over one person.

Which meant...

...he could work with this.

It made a delicious sort of sense, the way that each of them had been hiding their secrets, hoping relationships would develop on what they thought were separate tracks, but which turned out to be the same in the end. He loved her as Ladybug; she loved him as Adrien.

His ring beeped at him again, warningly. He could let the transformation timer run out and expose the comedy for what it was.

Or he could give advice as Chat Noir to Ladybug about how to get Marinette to capture Adrien's attention. He knew which one _he_ wanted, but Ladybug would roast him slowly and with spices if he took the easy way out.

"Have you tried being Ladybug around him?" he asked her.

"What? No! I can't risk my identity with anyone!" she replied.

"Not what I meant. Maybe stash your Miraculous somewhere easy to get to so you don't accidentally transform if you're worried, but why not act like Ladybug around him? Confident, strong, ready to get what you want?"

"There are all those other girls competing to be his girlfriend. I don't want him to see me as just another girl trying to win him. I want to be his friend first, and then maybe, if he wants, we can be something more than friends. He needs friends more than he needs a girlfriend."

Much as he wanted her to go after him, she was right.

"Start slow? Maybe invite him over so that you can beat the stuffing out of him at Ultimate Mecha Strike?"

"Because the _best_ way to win a boy's heart is to beat him at a game he's invested time and ego in," she said, clearly unimpressed. "That produced Gamer, remember?"

"I forgot," he said, facepalming. This was going to be a lot harder than he had thought. Marinette was always focused on what she _wasn't_ compared to what someone else _was_.

"Show him your drawings?" he offered.

"Evillustrator."

"Compliment his good looks?"

"Shallow."

"Sling him over your shoulder and carry him off to a secret location?"

"Kidnapping!"

"Not if he consents to it first."

"What?"

The look of confusion on her face made him smile.

"Is that one of _your_ secret fantasies?" she asked him, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"I don't think I've ever tried to hide how much I appreciate your strength," he said, putting on his best innocent face.

She scowled at him. His ring chirped again, pointedly reminding him of how little time he had left as Chat Noir.

" _Go_ ," she told him. "I don't want to know who's behind that perverted mind of yours." She smiled as she said it, though, the same exasperated smile she had for him whenever he had gotten himself into trouble yet again and she had to come bail him out.

That was enough for him. He saluted her, the same way Kim had saluted him in his dream, and dropped off the side of the roof, bolting for the nearest alleyway awning that would shield his transformation back from any and all prying eyes. Whistling a little to himself, he headed for another side street that would get him home to the mansion, hopefully fast enough and sneakily enough to evade whatever Nathalie was going to send out after him this time.

School was going to be interesting tomorrow. Maybe Marinette would take his advice and be more assertive. And less clumsy while she was at it.


	6. Vim and Vigor

She wished dying of shame were a real thing, instead of a literary expression.

Marinette had let her guard down around Adrien, Mayura had taken advantage, and then Ladybug had revealed her secret identity to Chat Noir. And been fooled into thinking one of those inkblots had been Lila. Which tried to take over her body after she'd skewered it with her Keyblade.

There was so much about the entire day that had gone wrong. But it had all gone wrong for Ladybug, which meant Marinette Dupain-Cheng still had to get up in the morning, go to school, and pretend that she hadn't suffered the worst embarrassment of her life yesterday.

And, because the universe hated her, the first people she saw in the morning were Chloé and Sabrina.

"My God, Dupain-Cheng, you want to be a fashion designer, and yet every day you come to school wearing something off the rack of the children's department," Chloé said dismissively.

She had an acid reply ready to go before realizing that it wouldn't work on Chloé, and there really wasn't any point in getting into it with her this early in the morning. So she let Chloé smirk and Sabrina laugh as they went inside.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien said.

Had he been standing behind her the entire time?

"Hi, Adrien," she said, not trusting herself to stay coherent if she turned around to look at him. "How are you?"

"Still pretty sore from that fencing workout," he said. "We should go in if we don't want to be late."

She nodded, still not looking at him.

"Right! Late would be bad." She started to walk up the stairs to the school, but her foot caught on one of the stones and she started to pitch forward.

"Whoa!" he said, catching her before she could faceplant on the concrete. How close had he been to her before she had tripped?

That thought was immediately erased with a more pressing one: Adrien was touching her.

Before her brain completely shut down, she heard Chat Noir say "Be more like Ladybug" to her.

It seemed like a good idea. She could worry about auditory hallucinations later.

"Thanks," she said, standing herself back up and collecting her scattered books. She strode off toward the classroom, giving Adrien a friendly wave with her free hand.

She successfully avoided both looking back and collapsing into hyperventilation about the whole affair until after she had turned the corner and found her seat in the classroom.

"Did Adrien do something to you?" Alya asked her when she sat down.

"No?" she said.

"You didn't start babbling, and you didn't make anything worse by flailing about or suddenly trying to distance yourself from him. We wondered if the magic was gone between you two, girl."

"I'm fine," she said, laughing. "Just remembering some advice from a friend."

"Well, it worked," Alya told her. "Adrien's looking at you."

She nearly froze again. Her crush was staring at her.

Ladybug had people staring at her all the time. Sometimes waving signs and screaming. She could keep her cool with Adrien Agreste, the hottest boy in her class.

The hottest boy in Paris.

Alya stuck a video of Nora smashing someone in the face in her eyeline.

"Wait, was that a cross combo?" she asked, registering the ferocity at which Nora went after the other fighter. "Play it again."

So long as she focused on Nora, and then her classes, she could ignore the feeling that Adrien was equally focused on her.

Right before her final period, the akuma alarm sounded. She was halfway out of her seat before the alarm finished.

"This is a test of the early warning akuma alarm," said Principal Damocles over the speakers. "In the event of an actual emergency, this message will be replaced by instructions."

Marinette relaxed and retook her seat.

Mme. Bustier appeared in class not much later and tried to take all of their minds off the alarm with a review of yesterday's lessons. She could have succeeded, if the alarm hadn't sounded again.

"This is not a test," Principal Damocles said. "I repeat, this is _not_ a test. A significant number of unidentified hostile creatures have been sighted at several locations throughout the city. Until further notice, all students and teachers should shelter in their classrooms. Please take an immediate attendance count and report any missing students."

She needed a distraction to get out of the classroom so she could change into Ladybug. Mme. Bustier always took the drills seriously, which meant no hall passes for anything short of an emergency.

Marinette heard a familiar popping sound behind her just before Rose screamed. Some of Mayura's Heartless had found their way in.

Well, there was her distraction, she supposed.

"Out! Now!" Mme. Bustier shouted. "Take shelter in the gym!"

Nobody needed convincing to move. Luckily for Marinette, she was one of the last out, after Chloé had insisted on going first, and that made it easy to slip into the locker room and change into Ladybug.

"Reports of attacking creatures are coming in from all over Paris," Nadja Chamack said, panic clearly in her voice. "Ladybug and Chat Noir may not be able to help us all, even if they move at their very fastest."

Ladybug closed the yo-yo. Mme. Chamack was right. There needed to be something they could do to defeat everything, quickly.

She was out of ideas on how, though. Inspiration usually came in the form of a Lucky Charm, so now was the time to use it.

A burst of ladybugs swarmed out in every direction possible from her spell. Unlike every other Lucky Charm, though, nothing fell into her hands. Had the spell malfunctioned?

A sound from the hallway attracted her attention. Pushing open the locker room door, she watched as one of the small Heartless sailed down the narrow hallway.

Mme. Bustier turned around in the hallway and...walloped another shadow down the opposite side with an oversize sledgehammer?

"You won't get my students!" she shouted. Noticing Ladybug, she waved to get her attention.

"Ladybug! I can't find Marinette or Adrien. If you see them, please send them to me! I'll try to find them—" She squashed a shadow under the hammer. "—myself, too."

Ladybug nodded and headed for the courtyard, realizing that Mme. Bustier could handle herself against the shadows. Where had she pulled the magical-girl hammer from, though?

"Look out!" Ladybug shouted, running into the courtyard, as different Heartless appeared behind Alix.

"Oh, don't worry about me!" Alix said, spinning on her skates. Two Keyblades appeared in her hands, one resembling her in-line skates, the other resembling the retro-futuristic wheels and watch that had resulted from her Timebreaker akumatization. "I'll be fine!" She sliced through more Heartless as she skated off.

When did Alix become a Keyblade wielder? And why did she have two?

Across the courtyard, Ladybug heard Rose scream as one of the big-bellied Heartless readied a charge at her. Ladybug threw her yo-yo and swung her way toward Rose, trying to move the big Heartless from its intended path.

"Rose!" Juleka shouted, skidding to a stop in front of her, brandishing a large, thorn-studded shield that Ladybug was very sure Juleka had not had on her when she came to class. Juleka planted her feet and took the charge from the Heartless, slowing it to a near stop before shoving back, flinging the Heartless across the courtyard.

Juleka helped Rose up and they turned to face the next Heartless, hand in hand, shields locked together. Rose had _definitely_ not had a shield in hand when Ladybug had started her swing.

A roar was the only warning Ladybug got to duck before one of the soldier Heartless went sailing through the air where she once was, poofing as it slammed against the wall in front of her. She looked behind and saw Ivan, fists glowing, punching whatever Heartless was foolish enough to get within swinging distance. He was side by side with Mylène, who was using what looked like Horrificator's tentacles to wrap up, then serve up Heartless for Ivan to beat back into the ground.

"What is going on here?" she wondered aloud to nobody.

She still hadn't found Adrien, though. Pushing the doors open to the pool, Ladybug watched in awe as Ondine, dressed in a mermaid tail over her usual swim outfit, gracefully leapt out of the water and delivered a tail slap to the floating Heartless in her arc. Kim surfed by on a wave underneath his feet, swinging a Keyblade in the shape of a fish tail and cleaning up whichever Heartless Ondine had missed.

Still no Adrien.

"Keep up the good work!" she called as she swung through the pool area, dashing through the mercifully empty boy's locker room to the gym.

M. d'Argencourt was attempting to rally his fencing students to use their technique against similarly-equipped Heartless as a red blur thrust, cut, and slashed her way through as many opponents as she could find.

"Ka—Mlle. Tsurugi!" Ladybug called. "Have you seen Adrien Agreste?"

Kagami stopped long enough to salute Ladybug and shake her head no, showing that her Keyblade resembled Riposte's weapon far more than Ladybug was comfortable with.

Adrien wasn't on the school grounds, then.

"My Lady," Chat Noir said, bowing to her as she exited the school's space, using his Keyblade to dramatically stab a Heartless behind him without breaking the pose. Rena Rouge and Carapace zoomed overhead, throwing themselves into the developing fray with the squadron of Heartless fliers that had shown up to greet them.

"When did they—?" Ladybug said, before another arriving Heartless swarm took her attention. A few spins with her yo-yo was enough to defeat them, but in the process the other Miraculous wielders had moved on.

"Rena and Carapace were here when I arrived," Chat Noir said after the fight, shrugging. "I might have an idea where the Heartless are coming from, though."

"Lead the way," she told him.

As they bounced along the rooftops of Paris, Ladybug saw repetitions of what she had seen at the school. Near the television station, Manon Chamack and Chris Lahiffe were surrounded by puppet and toy versions of all sorts of heroes (and villains, Ladybug thought she saw), who looked equally as capable at combat as they had been when used against the real thing, along with what looked to be other toys and characters fighting for the two children. Aurore and Mireille stood back to back, holding their umbrellas like magic wands, cackling together as bolts of lightning flashed from the sky, slamming Heartless into the ground, usually poofing them with one or two strikes.

Except Mireille had never been akumatized, so where was she drawing power from?

A cloud of dust exploded in the distance, drawing Ladybug's attention. A large Heartless stood itself up, looking around for something before sailing up into the air and abruptly being slammed down again into the ground. As Ladybug swung closer, she could pick out Nora Césaire dodging, hopping and throwing punches that had a far stronger effect than Ladybug would have assumed.

She could feel a little heat in her cheeks as she watched Nora fight. Between Kagami's lethal grace and Nora's efficient flurries, Ladybug realized that it wasn't just Chat Noir she admired for their martial elegance.

"Gotcha!" Nora cried. Ladybug saw a flash of color surround Nora before she executed a series of punches so fast Ladybug saw afterimages of each move, culminating in an uppercut where Ladybug felt the rooftop underneath her flex slightly from the strike.

Nora on video was good, but Nora in person was _amazing_.

The shockwave from the punch knocked her and Chat Noir down but the Heartless (and several smaller Heartless that had appeared close to Nora) poofed from the impact.

Nora clearly didn't need _her_ help. She swung back toward her original destination.

"What is going on? It's like Heroes' Day all over again!" Ladybug exclaimed.

"Are you really that dense?" Queen Bee said, swinging herself onto the roof in front of Ladybug. She turned around and dramatically pointed at Ladybug's chest as Ladybug came skidding to a stop in front of her. "It's right there, in your _heart_."

"Huh?"

"Ugh," Queen Bee rolled her eyes. "I guess I have to spell it out to you. Your heart is connected to so many people, Ladybug. I'm guessing you used your Lucky Charm or something like it to wish for a solution to this problem. Well, guess what? You can't do it all by yourself. You need help."

"So my Lucky Charm turned everyone into superheroes?"

" _Yeah_ ," Queen Bee said, still frustrated at Ladybug's slowness. "Ugh. Whatever. You can explain it to her, Chat Noir." Queen Bee blew him a kiss and flew off toward a pocket of Heartless menacing Max and Markov.

"You know, my Lady," Chat Noir told her as they resumed trying to get to his destination, "if you used your Lucky Charm already, I haven't heard your earrings beep once yet." He peered at her ears. "They still look like they have all their spots."

Ladybug had assumed she would start hearing the earrings beep once she was out of the middle of everything and could pay attention to them over the din of the fighting. But it had been a very long time since she'd summoned the Lucky Charm. Why wasn't it ticking down?

"What?" was all she could manage to say to represent all of those complex thoughts.

"I think what Chl—Queen Bee was trying to say was that your connection to everyone's hearts is so strong that you're empowering them with new toys to fight the Heartless with, and in turn, their hearts are keeping you fully powered, even after your Lucky Charm," Chat said.

"I thought that Hawk Moth was the only person who could grant powers like that, through his akuma."

"Guess you're just lucky," he said with a grin. "But you know I think you're purr-fect."

Ladybug made a face at the pun, as the two landed a short way away from the Agreste mansion.

"I need to see if Adrien is safe," Ladybug said. "My sources say he hasn't been around today, and I need to know if he's been akumatized."

"I think he's fine," Chat Noir replied. "But maybe I should go in first and look around?"

Further thoughts on the matter were put abruptly on hold as a portal of darkness appeared in front of them.

"I'd quite like to know what happened to Adrien myself," Mayura said as she emerged. "His friends are getting very upset that they can't find him. It would be a shame if one of them suddenly lost their heart."

"His friends are doing fine," Chat Noir said. "Foiling Hawk Moth themselves has to be a great feeling."

Mayura snorted. "What do you know about friends, puppet?" she said dismissively.

Chat Noir bristled at her. "I'm nobody's puppet."

"You're just pretending," she continued. "Puppets like you don't have real hearts. You're just a chain of memories all linked together that thinks they're a real boy."

Chat readied his staff to fight Mayura. Or at least try to keep her at bay. Mayura stepped in toward him. "I wonder," she said, drawing one of her fans up under her chin and fluttering it, "what would happen if I pulled you apart and took your memories home with me."

Chat nervously adjusted his grip on his staff. Mayura shouldn't be getting to him like this, Ladybug thought. Why was he afraid of what Mayura was saying?

"You can feel it already, can't you? You're just like Adrien," Mayura said mockingly. "You go where you're told and you sacrifice yourself for someone else." She stepped in toward him again, getting menacingly close, catching his chin again with her fan and forcing him to stare at her red eyes.

Opportunity while she's distracted, Ladybug thought, and moved to get herself out of Mayura's sightline.

"It would be very easy to reach inside and pluck what you think of as your heart out. And then smash it before you," Mayura said coldly.

"But you won't," he said, smiling.

"And why not?"

"I have friends."

"And what are they good for?" Mayura snarled.

He was ready to deliver a scathing retort when Ladybug struck, driving her Keyblade straight through the place where Mayura's heart should be.

"Surprise," she said grimly, before pulling her Keyblade out through the hole she'd created by running Mayura through from behind.

Mayura sank to her knees, clutching the space where her heart would have been. If she had one, that is, they both realized, as the armor around her fell off.

It...it was Gabriel Agreste's assistant, Nathalie.

"Oh, you recognize me, little puppet?" she said, smirking at Chat Noir. "Then you know I won't go down that easily."

Nathalie moved when he blinked, before Ladybug could react or warn him. Nathalie reached inside his chest, grasping for his heart. 

Chat screamed. Ladybug _moved_. 

Nathalie vanished an instant before Ladybug’s Keyblade whistled through where she would have been, reappearing a short distance away.

"You!" Nathalie pointed at her. She'd discarded her glasses, and her eyes were glowing a very familiar shade of red. "You've connected to this puppet's heart. It's not even real, and yet you fight for it."

"It's not just her," Chat Noir said. She offered him her shoulder and he stood, leaning on her a little. "I have friends now. They give me strength."

"Nonsense," Nathalie snapped. "You're an empty shell of memories. You can't have a heart. I'll prove it to you!"

Nathalie plucked one of the feathers from the fan in her other hand. Ladybug and Chat Noir readied themselves for the attack, but Nathalie turned the feather on herself, stabbing herself in the hole where her heart would have been. Ink flowed immediately from the feather, swiftly enveloping Nathalie's body in a swirling pool of darkness before reforming Mayura, fully-armored and with her fans.

Her Keyblade hadn't poofed Mayura. She was still Heartless, still in control of the Heartless, which meant...

"Shit, she's a Miraculous wielder!" Ladybug shouted.

Mayura laughed. "I can't be destroyed that easily," she said, turning to face them again.

She saw Chat's eyes flick once before returning to Mayura. She glanced quickly in that direction herself. 

Oh. 

Keeping her eyes on Mayura, Ladybug waited for someone to make a move, trying to steal herself just a little more time until the purple butterfly found its mark.

Mayura helped, without realizing it, by assuming a fighting stance with one fan behind her. The butterfly took the offer gratefully and dove into the fan.

"No!" she cried, as the familiar wings appeared before her eyes. "Sir!"

Whatever Hawk Moth told her, Mayura had no intention of hearing it, but nobody resisted Hawk Moth for too long.

"Are we sure this was a good idea?" Ladybug asked Chat as Mayura began to grow and twist her shape into something far larger, sprouting feathers everywhere as she rose into the air.

"Better than the alternative," he replied. "We can beat an akuma. Mayura? Maybe not."


	7. A Fight To The Death

It should have been obvious who she was from the start, Chat Noir thought bitterly to himself as the massive Heartless settled into a final form. Nathalie Heartless had been his little joke to himself whenever she had been particularly strict with him. He'd been even more delighted when it had turned out to be her actual name. And yet, it had never occurred to him, once Master Fu had explained the truth about the akumas and the Heartless, that Nathalie's name might have been a _description_ as well as a childhood joke.

And what she'd said when Hawk Moth sacrificed her to become an akuma confirmed what Ladybug had once suspected.

His father—no. _Gabriel Agreste_ was Hawk Moth. And probably a Heartless himself by now, given how much pain and suffering he caused Paris on a regular basis.

That was for later, though. For now—

"That's not very imaginative," Chat said. "I was expecting....more."

"Only peacocks have bright colors," Ladybug told him. "This is clearly a peahen."

The giant bird screamed and flapped her wings at them, sending a shower of feathers to dodge. Each feather swiftly transformed itself into a Heartless after missing its target.

"She's a Heartless factory!" Ladybug said. "We can't deal with them and her at the same time."

"That's why you have us," Queen Bee said, striking a heroic pose.

Rena Rouge and Carapace were already throwing themselves into the fray, ruining the moment.

"Better start counting!" he heard Rena say. "You're still fifty behind."

" _Amateurs_ ," Queen Bee said, facepalming. Spotting them, she swung her way over, dodging another rain of feathers. "Any plans, Ladybug?"

Ladybug's eyes were searching everywhere, looking for something that could be pulled together, but she shook her head.

"I can't see a solution," she said.

The peahen Heartless screamed and spun, scattering feathers everywhere in the city. The sounds of fighting and destruction rang out, mixing with each other and making it impossible to tell whether the super-powered citizens or the Heartless were winning.

He blinked. If what Queen Bee had said earlier was true, then maybe all of those citizens were as unconstrained as Ladybug was.

As if to prove his point, one of the balloon-bellied Heartless rocketed into the air, poofing just before it made contact with the peahen's airborne body.

"We need to distract it!" he shouted. "My Lady, find Mme. Chamack and have her tell everyone to focus their powers on fighting the big bird in the sky, once they've taken care of the Heartless around them! If she's under siege from everywhere, she can't keep making more Heartless!"

"I'll do it!" Queen Bee said, and swung herself off before anyone could object.

Leave it to Chloé Bourgeois to willingly take the task Chat really needed Ladybug to do. He knew she wouldn't approve of his plan. She hadn't approved of his previous anti-Heartless ideas, and this one had Self-Sacrificial Bad Idea written all over it. He didn't have a better one, she probably didn't either, and he needed to make sure she was around to fix things if he failed.

And, so far, his bad ideas had worked. No reason for them to stop now.

Queen Bee came on every broadcast, exhorting all those who were fighting to turn their attentions, as much as they could, to the giant akuma in town. He'd known, as had everyone else in class, that she'd wanted to save the city, maybe even the world, while there were television cameras to watch. The speech she gave was so polished, he knew she'd been practicing it for a long time. But that was what they needed right now.

He told Ladybug that they should help rally whomever was nearby, and helped her direct their attacks to the spots that would be most beneficial. The pressure ramped up on the Peahen Heartless, and her barrages of feathers started to find themselves destroyed or nearly destroyed before they could find a target and spawn their Heartless.

He saw his opportunity when she peeled off to make sure the mecha arriving on the scene were Max and Markov taking inspiration from their experiences as akuma, not new akuma to be dealt with. He started sprinting at the Peahen Heartless and launched himself with the staff, aiming to get above her head so that he could come in both hot and undetected to deliver the cataclysmic blow to her unobserved.

Halfway through beginning his descent, he felt the yo-yo wrap around his ankles. He hadn't distracted Ladybug for long enough. Then, instead of soaring, he was falling, being pulled down by his partner who didn't understand how much she was interfering. She was pulling him right toward the Heartless's wings, instead of her head.

The wings. The akuma had entered Mayura's fans, which had feathers on them. The fans were at the end of her arms, and if the anatomy held, then Ladybug wasn't trying to stop him, she was trying to _guide_ him.

"Cataclysm!" he shouted, calling forth his inner darkness and stretching out for the wing in front of him. Bolts of lightning flashed by, fists and Heartless flew in every direction, but somehow, through the maelstrom of activity, he stayed on target, and nothing came close to the gathered power of darkness in his hand. Perhaps Ladybug was keeping him lucky, with her yo-yo tied firmly around him, guiding him to his destination.

The Peahen Heartless didn't notice him until it was too late. She tried to evade his hand, but he slapped her wing as she tried to pull away, and he felt the power of destruction leave him for his target.

The effects were immediate. The Heartless screamed, in pain this time. Feathers began to disintegrate, spreading quickly from the place where he had struck, forcing her to land to avoid falling out of the sky. After being hauled up short of his own potentially messy end, Ladybug and him raced to the place where the hen had been forced to roost.

The final feathers dissolved away, disappearing into the air, and then, the only thing left was Nathalie, who began to break apart in the same way

"It was...good...while it lasted," she said. "...I'm sorry, sir."

And then she was gone. All that remained in her place was a brooch in the shape of a peacock train. Chat Noir picked it up.

It looked exactly like the one his mother had worn. He could feel the power inside it, in the same way that he could feel Plagg in the ring.

"Two great darknesses together is a heavy burden to bear," said a deep blue kwami next to his ear. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I...think I should keep this," he said. "It feels like it belongs."

"It belongs, yes," the kwami said. "Perhaps not to you, when everything finishes, but it certainly belongs."

Ladybug dashed past him, slinging her yo-yo for the next jump. "Adrien's probably in the mansion. We need to make sure he's safe!"

He smiled. Now that he knew where her concern was coming from, it was all the more endearing. What it meant, though, was finding somewhere to de-transform long enough for her to find him and get him to safety.

Nothing he hadn't already done. He briefly flirted with the idea of just showing her here and now, but she needed to be focused on taking down Hawk Moth. So did he. Revelations would have to wait.

He slipped into his own room, snuck into the bathroom, and stopped looking like Chat Noir. Plagg hustled for the cheese immediately, slipping through the walls to go in the back of the refrigerator and stay unseen.

He opened the door to see Ladybug taking in everything around her. "Why didn't the defense system go off?" she said to herself.

"That's usually Nathalie's job," he said, trying to sound like he didn't know what had happened to her. Modeling required acting so the camera could make him look genuine. "Of course, I never know what Nathalie is doing when she's not reminding me of my schedule or making sure I'm following it."

He could see a flash of concern on Ladybug's face before she turned away from him. How terrible it would be for her, to tell her crush that she had killed one of his house staff because it turned out the woman was actually an embodiment of darkness working with Hawk Moth.

If Ladybug knew who Hawk Moth was, it would only make things even more awkward, because then it would be "I've already helped kill your father's assistant and am on the way to get your father to stop being Hawk Moth, which might end up in his death as well. Could you find a safe place to hide until this is all over?"

And possibly a therapist, too. He didn't want to have to think about the consequences of possible patricide right now.

"Go find somewhere safe. Not in this building. It's possible that a very powerful villain has taken up residence here."

She knew. And she was trying to spare his feelings. He should have expected this. Marinette cared, but she was also remarkably observant. She'd followed the same clues to the same conclusion, and she was trying to protect him, as much as she could, from the consequences.

He nodded. "I have some friends I can stay with," he told her, and he could see how much that reassured her. She cautiously opened the door to the hallway, checking for danger, and then escorted him to the front door.

"Be safe," she said, closing the door behind him. He heard the bolt slide into place. Practical of her to try and remove any thoughts of last-second heroism.

Adrien Agreste had played his part and gotten himself off the stage safely. Now it was Chat Noir's cue to return, and for the ultimate confrontation to begin.

* * *

He caught up with her in Gabriel's study. She was looking at the portrait of his mother in the Klimt style.

"She's beautiful," he said, startling her.

"Where have you been?" she hissed at him.

"Making sure we're alone, my Lady," he said. "I'd hate for anyone to interrupt our date."

She pressed her lips together at him, deciding whether to let that comment slide. Eventually, she did, and turned her attention back to the portrait.

"This is important," she said, "but I don't know how."

The blue kwami floated toward the picture. Chat followed.

"My last user saw her love descend into darkness by pushing here," the kwami said, pointing at a part of the painting, "and here."

Gabriel Agreste wasn't capable of love, he thought. He had caused so much suffering to everyone as Hawk Moth, but there had been plenty of times where he could do damage as Gabriel Agreste. Chat Noir shook himself before following the thought to its obvious and more personal conclusion. He could think about the A-plus parenting of Gabriel Agreste later.

"Only one can go at a time," the kwami said. "Send the one who can survive first."

"That's me," Chat said. "I've still got seven lives left, at least. And if I die, I can at least buy you enough time to succeed, Ladybug."

That was the nature of being Chat Noir. He had the power of destruction; she had the power of creation. If he died, she could bring him back when everything was done. At least theoretically.

He protected her. With his life, if needed. Because she had to survive. And because if he went down helping the one he loved, it would be a worthwhile end. He was pretty sure that if he ever said any of that to her, though, she would worry about his su—

She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and forced him to look at her.

"You _will not_ die on me, Chat Noir," she said, her eyes never leaving his.

"Yes, my Lady," he said, unable to refuse or resist her. Did she know what kind of power she held over him right now?

"Promise me," she said.

She knew. He would not deny her, and then he would not fail her. She was his lady, and when she commanded, he obeyed. How different Ladybug was from Marinette in power, in poise, in confidence.

Or perhaps not. He had seen her when she was determined to crush the inkblot. He had seen her at work on designs and projects. He'd overheard Alya, Juleka, and Rose laughing about a (needlessly, in his opinion) complex plan, with flower-based code names, that Marinette had recruited them for. Ladybug gave her confidence more than anything, he realized.

He hesitated. Could he live up to a promise to live, when all of him said he wasn't important enough, he wasn't worthy enough, he wasn't _enough_ for her, and he never would be? Better to die and be useful than live and continue to fail.

"Say the words, chaton," she said, a command pulsing through his entire being.

He promised.

"Mean them." She held his eyes a little longer, looking for doubt or insincerity.

He could not disobey her. Damn it.

"You will lead," she said, more softly but no less intensely. "I will be right behind you. Keep yourself alive. Understand?"

He nodded.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

If only she knew what she was asking. Hopefully, he would have a better time of it than Oedipus did.

He nodded again. She released him from her power, and he went to stand in front of the painting.

"These two," he said, pressing the switches that would lead to the end, one way or another.

The trip into Hawk Moth's lair was swift. Not much time to think or prepare. He had one mission: Stay alive. He gripped his staff, ready for what was on the other end of the lift.

Hawk Moth was waiting when he arrived.

"How nice of Ladybug to bring her puppet. Now I don't have to go find you," Hawk Moth said. Now that he knew who it was behind the mask, it was obvious. He heard the subtle things that Gabriel had done to look and sound less like himself, but underneath, it was clear that _his own father_ was responsible for all the pain and misery from the last several years. And all the pain and misery he'd inflicted on his son since his wife had disappeared.

"Nathalie's gone," Chat said in reply. "We beat her, and we'll beat you, too."

"Child," Hawk Moth said, "with you both here, in my place of power, I will finally get my wish. My love will live again."

"Love? I don't think you know the meaning of the word," Chat said angrily. "She adored you, she followed you, and you turned her into an—"

"—akuma!" Ladybug shouted as her yo-yo flashed in front of his face, collecting the purple butterfly that he hadn't noticed at all.

He'd come within centimeters of failing her, and he hadn't even seen it coming.

"That's low, even for you, Hawk Moth," Ladybug said, releasing the purified butterfly. "Now, hand over your Miraculous, and we can all walk away from this without anyone getting hurt."

He'd been too wrapped up in his anger that he had let his guard down.

"No." Hawk Moth's reply held a note of finality to it. "I will not give up until the woman I love is returned to me."

He had almost been turned against her and he wouldn't have even known it.

"Your assistant is gone, Hawk Moth!" Ladybug snarled. "Or should I call you M. Agreste? There's no escape for you now. Surrender."

He was worthless, in the end. She had tried to ease his pain and keep him out of it. He should have—

"Stay with me, chaton," Ladybug said softly to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Focus. Breathe."

Why was she helping him? He was a liability. He couldn't protect her. What was he thinking?

"Fight, chaton," she told him, laying her hand across his back. "You can do this. You promised."

He'd promised her. And he would keep that promise until he couldn't breathe any more. He could feel Plagg, providing him with power and strength to resist, to change, to grow.

He didn't have to be Chat Noir to be powerful.

He could be Adrien, too.

"No!" he heard Hawk Moth shout in the distance.

It wasn't real. Somewhere out there, the real fight was going on, and he needed to be _there_ , fighting with his Lady.

Chat roared, and the scene around him shattered.

He opened his eyes to see a purple butterfly flapping away from him, before Ladybug's yo-yo snapped out and grabbed it.

"Gotcha," she said with a smirk at Hawk Moth. "No more evil-doing for you, little butterfly. Or for you, Hawk Moth."

He'd been akumatized. Hawk Moth must have ambushed him as soon as he arrived. That butterfly must have been meant for Ladybug. He'd taken the hit for her, and he'd almost drowned in his own darkness because of it.

 _The closer you are to light, the greater your shadow becomes,_ his memory reminded him.

"Good kitty," Ladybug said to him. "I knew you'd keep your promise."

Chat grinned. "Of course I did, my Lady. You know I'd be feline terrible if I let you down," he said, to let her know he was back in full control.

"Give us your Miraculous," Ladybug told Hawk Moth. "Your plan failed. You can't win."

"No," Hawk Moth said. "If you want it, you can pry it from my cold, dead hands!"

Hawk Moth was fast, swinging his cane at Ladybug before Chat could shout a warning. Ladybug blocked his strike with the red and black-spotted sword he'd seen when she was fighting ink-Lila.

Chat charged in, trying to take advantage of the situation. Hawk Moth grabbed the cane head with his other hand. Chat extended his staff just in time to block the blade that whipped around to try for his head.

"A cheater to the end," Chat observed, pushing back against the sword. "But I've declawed worse cats than you."

Hawk Moth was stronger and nimbler than he looked, pushing both of their weapons away and jumping back to a more defensible position in the room. If they could keep Hawk Moth between them, Chat realized, they could make Hawk Moth's defense much harder.

Unfortunately, Hawk Moth's technique was as deceptively good as his strength and agility, even against two opponents. Ladybug and Hawk Moth seemed equally matched, and when one or the other made a mistake, they were positioned so that neither could take advantage. Chat tried to help where he could, to force Hawk Moth to focus on him and defend his attacks as well so that Ladybug might have better opportunities to stab and slash, but Hawk Moth was frustratingly skilled.

Ladybug and Hawk Moth locked blades again. Then she _twisted_ her blade imperceptibly and both swords clattered to the ground some distance away.

He'd seen someone do that at fencing class some time ago, but he couldn't remember who:he charged to try and take advantage of the disarmament.

Without missing a beat, Ladybug punched Hawk Moth in the face and followed it with a couple of body blows. Chat stepped in with a staff strike, which Hawk Moth blocked with his arms without any apparent damage. Hawk Moth had a much harder time of keeping Ladybug away without his sword, and Ladybug rained punches on him, stepping in and weaving away from his strikes like she was channeling Nora Césaire again. She seemed to know where Hawk Moth was going to be, backing Hawk Moth toward a corner of the room as she hammered away at his defense, occasionally landing a solid blow when he was too slow to read her attack.

He saw the flash in Hawk Moth's hands and blocked the sudden reappearance of the cane sword with his staff before Hawk Moth could stab Ladybug. Master Fu had said that Keyblades could be summoned back to their wielder's hands, but he'd never seen it happen like that. Hawk Moth disengaged with his staff to block Ladybug's Keyblade, back in her hands just as suddenly, and the fight continued.

His subconscious continued to work on the question of Ladybug's incredible proficiency with things he had never seen her train with as they blocked Hawk Moth's quick strikes and battered at his fierce guard. Everyone was fighting for their lives, rather than with the rules of the piste he had long been training on. There wasn't any sort of pattern to learn, either: while akumas always had a focus that could be exploited, Hawk Moth's goal was simple—kill them and take their Miraculous.

Ladybug hooked Hawk Moth's foot with her own, trying to drag him off his feet and bash his head with the guard of her sword. Hawk Moth fought off her foot, bringing his blade down so that Ladybug had to parry. Hawk Moth briefly locked blades with her again and she disarmed him again for a brief second.

Kagami. She was fighting like Kagami, he realized. He'd seen her, as Riposte, attempt that trip, and he'd been on the receiving end of that blade disarmament at least a couple times in fencing class, try as he might to figure out how she did it.

When Ladybug boxed like Nora Césaire, it was because she _was_ boxing like Nora.

He'd been thinking about it the wrong way the whole time. Their friends weren't just providing strength to them, they could provide technique as well. Ladybug was shifting back and forth between styles, borrowing the experiences of her friends to match the situation. She shifted as smoothly as M. and Mme. Dupain-Cheng worked with each other in the patisserie. He had watched them dance around the kitchen, always seemingly aware of where the other was, or what the other needed. Requests made with the smallest of gestures, confections assembled in a pas de deux of long practice, and yet, it seemed like every time their eyes locked, a spark jumped between them. He yearned for the day when he and Ladybug could achieve such a partnership.

It wasn't just Keyblades that could change forms, Chat realized. So could their wielders. He didn't have to be another melee fighter. Why not play to his own strengths? He'd always picked the mages in video games for their versatility.

Aurore, as Stormy Weather, had the basic set of elemental powers for any self-respecting Black Mage archetype. He concentrated on her, the power she wielded.

Lightning crackled from his staff, arcing at Hawk Moth before expending itself trying to get through a glowing barrier surrounding him. Apparently, Hawk Moth had planned for this possibility. He tried to hit him with stronger powers or different elements, but it dissipated all the same against the barrier. The direct approach wasn't going to work.

He snapped his fingers as a new idea appeared. Ladybug's sword glowed and burst into flame, leaving trails of fire behind as she fought. But the fire never seemed to get past the barrier, ruining the whole point of having a flaming sword in the first place. Still too direct, apparently.

An alarm caught his attention. Guns, grenade launchers, and other weapons he couldn't identify sprouted from the wall, aiming at them both. Hawk Moth smiled and vanished from sight. Where had he gone?

More importantly, they were going to need an impossible defense. Like Carapace's shield, maybe? He was still out there fighting, and Chat realized he didn't know whether borrowing someone's powers would take them out of the fight still raging on the streets of Paris while they fought in Hawk Moth's lair. He couldn't risk it. He needed some other barrier to work with that could keep them safe.

Like they were in a bubble. Like when Nino was akumatized. The shift came faster this time, now that he knew how to do it. He ran to Ladybug, grabbing her non-sword hand right before waving his staff around them to put up the shield.

It _hurt_. He could feel each bullet, missile, bomb, flame, and electric shock from the security system trying to kill them. But he had to endure it all, to keep her safe. To keep them safe. He'd promised her. Like hell he was going to give up now.

Finally, the weapons let up. Out of ammo, probably, but he was in no better shape. If he could get some cheese to Plagg, it would help. But that would mean not being Chat Noir in the middle of the fight of his life.

"That was amazing," Ladybug said. "You saved my life. Are you okay?" Ladybug asked him as he steadied himself on her shoulder.

"Never better, my Lady. I'm the cat's pajamas," he said, hoping he didn't sound as exhausted as he felt.

She gracefully slid her shoulder out from underneath his arm and eased him down to the ground as his legs gave out from under the pressure of keeping him upright.

"Stop lying to me," she said sternly, once he had sat. "You know I hate liars."

"Didn't want to worry you," he said in return. "I can still chase Hawk Moth."

"Do you think you can do that bubble again?" she asked him.

He nodded.

"Then I have a plan," she said.

He knew what had to happen. Her heart was the one he would save, always and forever. And in the way of that stood Hawk Moth.

They'd chased him from his lair, at least. Hawk Moth was without his supply of butterflies. They'd managed to deprive him of his best asset.

Except one of them was purple, flapping its way toward them while Ladybug was busy taking care of him.

"Akuma," he said weakly, pointing.

Her eyes narrowed, and the yo-yo flashed out and purified it. Another purple butterfly was flapping in from the side. She spotted it and purified it, as well. Two more took off from the floor, on opposite sides. She snagged them both and purified them before they could get too close, but there were six more already in the air. She barely caught them all, and a dozen more were already flapping their way to them.

"Guess we made him mad, huh?" Ladybug said, breathing heavily as she slung her yo-yo out again and again, catching as many butterflies as she could with each pass.

They needed to get out of there. He'd seen Hawk Moth disappear in this area before the weapons systems all fired. If there was another secret elevator, that would explain the fast exit.

He'd already used a Cataclysm on Mayura. Time to see if he had infinite MP, like everyone else did.

"Cataclysm," he said, pressing his hand to the floor, relishing the feeling as it crumbled underneath him. Immediately afterward, he remembered gravity was a harsh mistress. He extended his staff until it struck something and started lowering them down as fast as he dared. Hawk Moth would have another trap waiting for them at the bottom, and they couldn't afford to blunder into it like he had the first time.

The butterflies followed, picking up speed of their own as they chased them down the second lift shaft. Ladybug picked off any akuma that got too close for her comfort, but he could hear the panic rising in her breathing as she tried to spot the closest butterfly.

They rocketed out of the silo into what looked like a church. Hawk Moth was standing at the altar, cane at his side again, a victorious look on his face.

"Fly, my little akumas, and evilize them!" he shouted, laughing.

There was no way Ladybug could get all of them in time. One of them would get him, or her, and then the odds would turn against them. He racked his brain for a useful solution, but he already knew what happened when he applied Cataclysm to the butterflies. Maybe the new Miraculous had a power he could use.

He stopped when he saw the smile on her face. The same smile that she'd had on when confronting Lila. Or the inkblot Lila. Or when she'd just summoned a Lucky Charm and knew what to do with it. There was a plan. She had her yo-yo phone open like she was ready to make a call. Did they even get signal down here?

She pointed the phone up the shaft and swiped with her fingers, snapping a pause sigil into the oncoming swarm of butterflies. Then another. And another. Ladybug was mostly a blur of swipes as pauses flew furiously out from her yo-yo, tagging akumas until the swarm had been frozen in place. He'd forgotten that Lady WiFi could speed up time as well as stop it, but apparently Marinette hadn't.

"How are you, Hawk Moth?" he said, advancing toward the villain, realizing a perfect opportunity when it presented itself. "All your Miraculous are belong to us."

"What?" Hawk Moth said, unsheathing his cane sword again.

"You are on the way to destruction. You have no chance to survive, make your time," Ladybug said, and his heart leapt.

Hawk Moth frowned. "You won't—"

"Stop," she said, flinging a pause at him. He batted it away with his sword, which froze in the air, despite his attempts to move it afterward. "Just stop." Another pause shattered the barrier he'd built for himself. "Stop." she said again, flinging another pause, which he dodged cleanly.

They advanced together, driving Hawk Moth into a corner, Ladybug flinging attacks to prevent him from getting away, until they were only an arm's length away from him.

Now that he was this close, he could see the features, the body language, the tailoring of the suit, all the things that told him his father was in front of them. He realized that he was glad that Gabriel Agreste would pay for all the pain he caused.

"I'll be taking that Miraculous," she said, stretching her arm out to collect it.

With a snarl, Hawk Moth lunged. Chat saw the flash of purple and reacted.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Hawk Moth's hand on his stomach, his hand on Hawk Moth's face, the one part of the man left unprotected.

He felt the hand slip away from him as Hawk Moth staggered back.

"What have you done?" Hawk Moth said, rasping as the full truth came to light.

He'd Cataclysmed his own father.

He'd done the unthinkable, precisely because he hadn't thought. Protect Ladybug. Infinite MP. Attack, counterattack. One point to the one with the right-of-way.

"Émilie," Hawk Moth said. "I'm sorry."

To Chat's ears, it sounded like he meant it.

Hawk Moth passed on to dust without another word, leaving behind only a tie pin. And, when Ladybug picked it up, a purple kwami.

The only genuine apology he'd heard from Gabriel Agreste was his last. What kind of monster was Chat Noir, he wondered, that he was focused on whether or not his father's final words were sincere?

His vision blacked out swiftly afterward.

Fire raced through his veins. When had he fallen? It didn't matter, because the pain overrode any other thought he was having.

"Chaton," she said softly, caressing his cheek. "I need you to stay alive, okay? Don't break my heart now. You promised."

She hugged him. Her heart was beating swiftly, the clearest sign of her panic. Her heart was the strongest thing in the room. So much rested on her heart never breaking, never darkening, always staying exactly what it was. Her heart had been carrying such a burden, and he'd never realized it. Cheerful Marinette, carrying the weight of Ladybug on her shoulders.

He tried to stand and cursed that his body refused to obey him. At any other time, he would welcome being so close to his Lady, but the pain refused to relent long enough to help him think about something else.

"I can't use the Cure," she was saying. "It would bring him back, and he needs to _stay_ dead."

He sighed, wincing in pain, and settled into her. Sometimes sacrifices were necessary for victory. He had always known he would be the expendable one. She was okay. Hawk Moth and Mayura were gone. The rest was details. Besides, how much was his life worth, anyway? It wasn't like he had loving parents to go back to.

"Don't you change on me," she said to him. "Fight the akuma, Chat Noir! You did it once before!"

Akuma? Oh. That's what all of this pain was, then. Hawk Moth's final akuma, the one he had probably channeled all of his own negative feelings into. Strangely enough, knowing it wasn't his own pain made it easier to bear. He'd been taking enough from Gabriel all of these years that he'd learned how to deal with it, at least to some degree.

In the end, he'd dealt with it by killing Gabriel and Nathalie. If that meant that he ended up dying, too, then that was a price he was willing to pay.

She was hugging him again. And saying something, although he couldn't really hear what. Ladybug was warm. Her light would keep shining on. That was enough. He could finally let out everything that he'd been keeping in. There wasn't any need to hold back now.

"I love you, my Lady," he said, and dove into the darkness at the edge of his consciousness.


	8. Dearly Beloved

"Master, we're in the Agreste mansion. Hawk Moth is dead. Mayura is dead. Chat Noir is dying. Hurry!" 

She closed the yo-yo and held Chat Noir close to her, willing him to fight more. He'd _promised_ her, and now it seemed like he was giving up.

"He's falling asleep," someone said behind her. "If he stays that way for too long, he'll die, or worse, he'll become a Darkling, but neither of those things is immediate."

She spun around, ready to fight, to protect him for once.

There was a woman at the altar. Judging from the capsule that stood open, she had come from there; judging from the suit she was wearing, whoever had put her there had at least thought about her eventual return.

"Who are you?" she asked the woman.

"Émilie Agreste," the woman said dryly. "Up until very recently, the wielder of the Peacock Miraculous. It looks like your friend is losing his heart to his inner darkness. Are you sure you want to spend time arguing with me rather than rescuing him?"

"How do I know I can trust you?" she said. She'd had enough of Agrestes not named Adrien at this point.

"You can see my heart, Mlle. Ladybug-wielder," Émilie said. "You want to save the Black Cat's wielder. If you listened with your heart, you'd know I'm not lying to you."

Ladybug shook her head. "It could be a trap."

"Unless you think you can drag Fu all the way here in time to save his heart, you're going to have to trust me," Émilie said. "Diving into hearts is a tricky business if you don't want to get lost."

Émilie stepped toward Chat Noir. Ladybug blocked her before she could get too close.

"This would be easier if I had my Keyblade," she said. "Ask Nooroo if he recognizes me," she added, noticing the tie pin in Ladybug's hand.

"She looks like Émilie Agreste," the purple kwami piped up immediately. "Gabriel would have been proud to see his wife alive and awake."

"Feh!" Émilie said. "Gabriel was the reason for this whole mess in the first place. He kept wanting to use his powers to experiment on hearts, to find better ways of controlling them, instead of empowering them. He split my heart when I tried to stop him. If he's gone, the world is a safer place." 

For a moment, Émilie looked wistful, as if she were remembering something fondly. "Adrien was there, too. I hope he got away in time."

She nodded. "I sent him away from here before we started. He's safe."

Émilie's face lit up at that. "Adrien's alive! That's wonderful news. I can't wait to see my boy." Her joy dimmed as she looked at Chat Noir, breathing slowly on the floor. "We can focus on saving your friend," she said apologetically. 

She pointed at the fan brooch attached to Chat Noir's belt. "Is that my Miraculous?"

Ladybug stared knives at her. "That Miraculous was used to do great evil by a heartless woman," she said. "Why would I just give it to you?"

Émilie stopped and took in a breath.

"The kwami's name is Duusu," she said evenly. “If you summon her, she'll recognize me, and she'll probably be thrilled to be back with her partner."

Ladybug kept Émilie in her sight while unclipping the fan brooch.

"Duusu," she said. A bright blue kwami appeared in front of her.

"Hi there!" the kwami said.

"Do you recognize this woman, Duusu?" she asked the kwami, pointing at Émilie.

The kwami squealed in delight. "Em—" she started, before coughing. "Sorry," she said, grinning. "That's my partner! She’s changed some since I saw her last, but it’s still her! I'm so happy to see her after all of those terrible times with Nathalie. What a heartless bi—"

"—I believe you," Ladybug said flatly, throwing the brooch to Émilie.

"Thank you, Ladybug," Émilie said. Her face softened. "We'll save your friend. I promise."

Émilie affixed the fan brooch to her jacket, using the lapel button hole specifically for the purpose.

"Duusu, let's dazzle!" she said.

Ladybug carefully schooled her expression to neutrality as an uncomfortably close reminder of Mayura took the place of Émilie.

"I should send you in after him," Ladybug said. "If you do want to help, you wake him up. If you don't want to help, it makes it much easier for me to kill you." She knew Chat Noir would have been horrified to hear her say that, but she was long past the point of caring about the pleasantries.

"Sound tactics," Émilie said, smiling. "But I can't. I don't have a connection with him. It has to be you."

Ladybug needed insurance, then, just in case. She popped open her yo-yo and sent a text. Maybe a minute later, Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee landed.

"Oh," Carapace said, as soon as he saw the scene. "That's why she said to hold the champagne."

"Yeah," Queen Bee said acidly. There was no way she could have known any more than he did, Ladybug thought.

"You're on guard duty, all of you," Ladybug snapped, frustration boiling over at how long things were taking. "I have to go in and rescue Chat Noir's heart from Hawk Moth's parting gift. If she," Ladybug pointed at Émilie, "so much as thinks an unkind thought about us while I'm out, kill her and take her Miraculous."

"Excuse you?!" Rena exclaimed, a look of horror on her face.

"Fine," Ladybug sighed. " _Hurt her a lot_ and take her Miraculous. I don't particularly care how." She fixed Émilie with a glare. "How do we do this?"

"Summon your Keyblade," Émilie replied. "Concentrate on his heart and your desire. When you see the keyhole, unlock it and dive in."

As if it were so easy, Ladybug thought. She looked at Chat Noir. Still breathing. That was good.

She wanted him back. He'd made a promise to her. She intended to hold him to it. And, in some part of her heart, she knew she would miss him. Even the terrible puns.

She saw the small keyhole over his heart shimmer into existence.

No turning back now. Gently spinning the yo-yo down, she walked-the-dog all around the keyhole.

There was a flash, and then she was falling.


End file.
